Danish financier says counter-cyclical approach paying off
Denmark’s European Maritime Finance (EMF) and its partners Atlas Maritime and Concord Maritime have concluded a profitable deal to sell an older aframax into India.
The financier said the 116,000-dwt Dakota Strength (built 2007) has gone for a “record” price of $39.5m.
This will deliver a return for EMF of 220% and 115% from the two separate investments it made in the tanker.
“This investment will provide yet another successful return for our clients and continue to build our long-term reputation for achieving excellent returns to our investors,” said EMF chief executive Martin Haugaard.
The ship was bought for $21.5m in 2019 from Arcadia Shipmanagement in Greece.
Brokers had put a price of $40m on the deal, with a special survey passed.
This aligns with independent valuations of the ship, which has been renamed the Kira K under unknown India ownership.
The tanker was the first vessel acquired by Connecticut-based commercial manager Concord Maritime, led by founder and CEO Ben Ognibene.
The ship was under joint ownership. Atlas was the technical manager while Concord was the commercial manager.
The tanker joined Concord’s Dakota Tankers aframax/LR2 pool, which was established in August 2018 and had 10 vessels at that time.
The members were Concord, Atlas Maritime and Chartworld of Greece, and Emarat Maritime of the UAE.
The Dakota Strength traded in the Concord pool for six months from December 2019 until May 2020 and enjoyed historically high spot rates.
Concord then developed and secured a lucrative two-year time charter at $24,000 per day with SAF, a Canadian oil trader, at the peak of the market in May 2020.
This provided solid cash flows during the pandemic and in one of the weakest periods for tankers in recent history, TradeWinds is told.
The charter ended in May 2022 when the market was booming again, and the ship then enjoyed spot exposure in the pool once more, until the sale.
The principals of Atlas and Concord have enjoyed an excellent relationship that dates back almost 20 years, Atlas said.
Stephen Schueler, EMF chairman, added: “We are committed to being market leaders in sustainability and are proud of delivering positive returns for our shareholders. EMF and Atlas Maritime have a strong track record leading the maritime industry transition to greener and cleaner fuel.”
EMF was founded in 2014 to create a bridge between shipowners seeking to raise capital and professional investors who aimed to take advantage of the cyclical characteristics of the maritime world.