Asset player Andreas Hadjiyiannis has emerged as the buyer of a Ghassan Ghandour-controlled VLCC that was recently auctioned in Singapore.
On 7 January, UK shipbroker CW Kellock, which marketed the sale on behalf of Credit Suisse, told TradeWinds the highest bid for the 320,300-dwt Chloe V (built 2011) was $42.1m from Navygold Maritime.
Sources familiar with the Chloe V's auction process said that the entity behind Navygold Maritime is Hadjiyiannis tanker outfit Hellenic Tankers, which made the highest offer in a hotly contested auction that saw 11 interested shipowners inspect the vessel prior to the auction with seven submitting bids.
The Cypriot owner did not respond to a request for comment.
Canny asset player
Hadjiyiannis, a self-made shipowner who is the founding member and president of the Cyprus Union of Shipowners, controls a mixed fleet of about 40 bulkers, container ships and tankers.
Known to be pouncing on distressed assets that eventually gain in value, Hadjiyiannis concluded some exceptional sale-and-purchase and chartering deals in the container ship market last year.
Another Hadjyiannis company, Cyprus Sea Lines, was widely reported to have made at least two highly lucrative asset plays with boxships it had previously acquired in the distressed German market between 2014 and 2017.
Hadjiyiannis has already started plowing some of these proceeds back into the tanker market.
In August, the owner made his first move in the VLCC sector in two years with a $41.5m acquisition of the former Xihe Group's 318,400-dwt Chang Bai San (built 2012), which is now trading as the Stephanie and is managed by Executive Ship Management.
Delivery in two weeks
Hadjiyiannis' winning bid of $42.1m for the Chloe V was below the $49m snapshot evaluation VesselValue currently puts on the ship, although it falls within MSI Horizon's fair market value assessment of between $41.8m and $49.9m for the first quarter of 2022.
Brokers in Singapore described the price obtained as a strong one for an auction sale of a vessel whose class certificates expired and is due for a bottom survey.
The lowest bids received were in the mid-$30m range.
Representatives from the ship management company appointed to take over the Chloe V were scheduled to visit the vessel on Tuesday.
TradeWinds understands that the ship will be handed over to its new owner after final paperwork has been completed within the next two weeks.
After embarking its new crew, the ship will proceed immediately for dry-docking.
The Chloe V, which was last operated by Ghandour's Piraeus-based outfit Hermes Marine, was arrested in July 2021 over a dispute between Hermes and charterer Koch Shipping over the cost of a scrubber that was claimed to be defective.
After security was lodged for that dispute, which went into arbitration, Credit Suisse stepped in to arrest the ship for breaches in loan covenants and mortgage payments.
TradeWinds understands that the Swiss bank settled crew wage claims and repatriated non-essential crew ahead of the auction.
The sale of the Chloe V marks the end of Ghandour's involvement in the VLCC sector. However, the Lebanese shipowner continues in the bulk trades through his Piraeus-based company Gulf Marine International, which operates three panamax bulk carriers.
