Connecticut’s Ridgebury Tankers has sold an MR product carrier, extending its selling spree amid rising prices in the sale-and-purchase market.
After several shipbroking houses reported that the Westport-based shipowner had sold the 50,000-dwt Ridgebury Voyager (built 2008), chief executive Robert Burke told TradeWinds that it sold for $19.2m.
He said that as a management company that runs funds for several private equity clients, Ridgebury sometimes sells assets to “derisk” investments.
The buyer of the epoxy-coated Ridgebury Voyager was not disclosed, although UK sale-and-purchase specialist Seasure Shipbroking said Middle East interests were behind the purchase.
The ship, built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea, is due for a dry-docking for a special survey by the start of next year, brokers said.
The sale comes as MRs, along with the rest of the tanker space, are experiencing rising asset values.
The Baltic Exchange’s assessment of a five-year-old MR product tanker has reached $38.8m, the highest level for the index since 2009.
Separate estimates by valuation platforms Maritime Strategies International and VesselsValue put the Ridgebury Voyager as worth between $19.9m and $22.2m, but the need for the buyer to carry out a dry-docking likely has an impact on pricing.
Nonetheless, the ship would have been worth just $13.2m if it was sold in February, according to VesselsValue’s estimates.
The transaction adds to a string of sales by Ridgebury, a tanker owner backed by private equity house Riverstone Holdings.
VesselsValue’s deals database links the shipowner to 13 ship sales since the start of the year.
The company, which could not be immediately reached for this story, lists 16 vessels on its website.
