Pelagic Partners, a shipping investment outfit set up two years ago by Niels Hartmann and Atef Abou Merhi, got its second shipping fund up and running.
The first ships to join the newly established Pelagic Yield Fund are the 50,000-dwt Pelagic Tarpon and Pelagic Taimen (both built 2006).
The pair was formerly trading as Arctic Blizzard and Arctic Breeze, respectively, in the managed fleet of Germany’s NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft.
Several brokers reported the ships as sold in mid-April to an unidentified shipowner for $12m apiece.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, Pelagic Partners revealed itself as their buyer at a slightly higher price of $12.4m each.
One of the ships will be employed on a long-term charter, while the other will trade within the Norient Product Pool.
Technical management will be entrusted to Donnelly Tanker Management, a Cyprus- and Athens-based entity connected to the Hartmann Group.
This is the first investment made by the Pelagic Yield Fund, which was set up in March 2022.
According to the statement, the Pelagic Yield Fund will continue raising equity and plans to invest “opportunistically” another $75m to $80m up until the first quarter of 2023 with “a primary focus on the tanker and offshore segments”.
“As the first transaction within a compartment sets the tone and momentum for future investments, we are satisfied that our analysis and timing proved to be correct to start on a high note with the Pelagic Yield Fund,” said Abou Merhi, who is also Pelagic Partners’ managing director.
His company remains bullish on the product tanker sector for the next two to three years, Abou Merhi said.
Pelagic’s first fund was set up nearly two years ago and closed its investment after assembling a diversified fleet of eight vessels — from LPG tankers to product tankers to bulkers to car carriers.
Eastmed and Akbasoglu in buying mode
The Arctic Breeze and the Arctic Blizzard weren’t the only MRs that clients of NSB decided to offload recently.
A smaller pair of MR sisterships from the same German fleet hit the sale block as well last month. One of them has already emerged with Thanassis Martinos-led Eastern Mediterranean Maritime (Eastmed).
The ship in question is the 37,500-dwt Isolde (built 2008), which has joined the Eastmed fleet as Ladybug.
The Hyundai Mipo Dockyard-built vessel was reported sold in early May to an unidentified Greek buyer for between $11m and $11.2m.
It remains to be seen whether Eastmed pounced on NSB’s 37,200-dwt Lugano (built 2007) as well. According to brokers, that ship’s sale reportedly went hand in hand with the Isolde’s in an en bloc deal of about $22m.
Another MR buyer has emerged on the other side of the Aegean.
The low-profile Akbasoglu group is being confirmed as buyer of a pair of 16-year-old vessels sold in April.
Akbasoglu unit Trans KA Management took the 37,600-dwt Seaways Canaveral (built 2006), which has since been renamed Can KA, from International Seaways.
And it bought the 37,000-dwt Maersk Arctic (built 2006) from Maersk Tankers before renaming it renamed Esen KA.
The new acquisitions are among the largest vessels in Akbasoglu’s fleet of about ten product tankers and chemical carriers.
