Shipmanagement heavyweight V.Group has bolstered its presence in Asia with the purchase of Selandia Holdings.
The deal marks the second significant takeover for V.Group this year after the March acquisition of Bibby Shipmanagement.
Clive Richardson, chief executive of V.Group, said in a statement: “For V.Group, this acquisition represents a great opportunity for us to continue to lead on our technical and crew management operations in India – particularly the tanker sector, where there is high demand for specialist skills.”
Selandia was founded in India in 1995 and today has offices in Singapore, the Philippines, Russia and Latvia.
Tanker specialist Selandia will continue to operate independently, the statement said.
The deal sees Selandia come almost full circle, having started as a joint venture with Acomarit - a company that V Group bought in 2001.
“There’s no surprise that we’ve found alignment in our commitment to assure performance of the assets under our management,” said Captain Naren Bhatt and Captain Umesh Thakore, joint chairmen of Selandia Ship Management.
“V.Group is supportive of our team’s vision and growth plans and we are very much looking forward to this next phase of our journey together.”
V.Group today has over 60 offices globally with more than 40,000 staff in shipping and offshore.
Attempts to reach the company for further comment were not immediately successful.
In addition to the Bibby deal, V.Group has also formed a new venture with George Makrymichalos’s Empros Lines this year.
