Indonesian shipowner Buana Lintas Lautan (BULL) has been linked to the purchase of two 12-year-old LR2s that are owned by Hin Leong Trading founder Lim Oon Kuin.
Sale-and-purchase brokers said the Jakarta-based company has acquired the Chinese-built 108,900-dwt Ocean Lady and Ocean Odyssey (both built 2008) for an undisclosed price.
VesselsValue estimates the worth of the Ocean Lady at $18.89m and the Ocean Odyssey at $19.82m.
Ocean Lady and Ocean Odyssey are registered under Nan Hua Maritime and Nan Hui Maritime, respectively. They are special purpose vehicles (SPV) owned directly by the Lim family but are part of Xihe Group.
Xihe Group could not be reached for comment.
Xihe Group, which comprises of Xihe Holdings, Xihe Capital and the Lim’s 11 SPVs, collectively owns a fleet of some 130 vessels, together with several product and chemical tankers that are under construction in China.
It could not be reached for comment.
Xihe Group is reported to have been trying to sell some vessels as part of its fleet restructuring.
“It is not going for [a] fire sale,” said a shipping source. “It is not competing with any of the judicial managers of its (Xihe) subsidiaries in selling the ships. It is seeking for the right price and right party.”
Interim judicial managers and mortgagees of some Xihe Group-linked SPVs are also trying to sell ships.
Accounting firm Grant Thornton, the interim judicial manager of Xihe Holdings, has put seven tankers up for sale. It has appointed Clarksons and Arrow Shipbroking as exclusive brokers for the septet that comprises three VLCCs and four product tankers.
The vessels are the 318,000-dwt Tai San (built 2009) and Tai Hung San (built 2010) and 319,000-dwt Pu Tuo San (built 2011), the 37,300-dwt Ocean Victory (built 2002), 50,100-dwt Bei Jiang (built 2009), 109,000-dwt Ocean Trader (built 2008) and Ocean Pegasus (built 2009).
Malayan Banking (Maybank)-appointed KPMG has also placed three tankers that are owned by three SPVs under Xihe Holdings for sale. These are the 16,600-dwt chemical tankers Ocean Success and Ocean Supreme (both built 2012) and the 1,000-dwt bunker tanker Marine Topaz (built 2015).
BULL, which declined to comment on the latest reported transactions, is an active player in the secondhand market.
In May, the company bought the 34,600-dwt product tanker Kingfisher (built 2005) from Marwave Shipmanagement for $6.5m. It has taken delivery of the tanker and renamed it Petromax.
In 2019, BULL splashed out $224.3m on 13 secondhand tankers — six LR2ss, six aframaxes and one MR product tanker last year.
The company currently has a fleet of 33 ships in the water.
