Danish pension funds PensionDanmark and Danica have joined the growing number of companies looking to take advantage of traditionally low asset prices by setting up a maritime investment fund with Navigare Capital Partners.
The fund, appropriately named Maritime Investment Fund, will buy, lease and sell ships.
Managed by Navigare, the fund will build a diversified portfolio of maritime assets to put on charter to operators. It will also work asset plays by selling the ships when market conditions are favourable.
Navigare was set up this month by shipping veterans Henrik Ramskov, Lars Bagge Christensen, John Boesen and Stig Enslev.
Ramskov, a former CEO of Thorco Shipping and COO at Maersk Tankers, says the fund will give institutional investors a possibility to invest in a broad portfolio of vessels.
PensionDanmark has committed $200m to the fund, with investment from the other partners taking the total fund size to over $300m. In future other institutional investors will be invited to participate.
Torben Möger Pedersen, CEO of PensionDanmark, commented: “We expect the new maritime fund to be a good investment with an attractive return during our relatively long term horizon.”
“We expect that the investment in the fund will give our customers a reasonable return. We are investing in a strong and experienced team with a broad set of competences, and this together with the attractive price on new as well as secondhand vessels, is a key reason for us to see this as a good investment,” added Jesper Langmack, investment director at Danica.
