The Saverys family is in the hunt for bargains, lining up an IPO of a new company worth up to $150m on the Nasdaq. The Belgian family, which took CMB private last year, has today revealed details of Hunter Maritime Acqusition Corp, a vehicle, which as its name suggests, aims to snap up shipping assets and companies in a range of sectors, starting with dry bulk.
Marc Saverys’s sons Alexander and Ludovic will serve as ceo and cfo respectively.
“We believe that the shipping industry, and particularly the dry bulk sector of the shipping industry, presents attractive opportunities for consolidation and growth and a favorable area in which to consummate a business combination transaction,” a filing from the new company claimed today.
“We believe that many existing shipowners are unable to take advantage of the distressed nature of the shipping industry and related low asset values that emerged during 2009 and are continuing, as a result of difficulty in obtaining financing from traditional funding sources and challenges with their existing fleet.
“In addition, the prevailing share prices of many publicly traded shipping companies are at prices below their net asset values, making it difficult for such companies to raise money in the capital markets or use their stock as currency for acquisitions.”
distressed asset acquisitions make sense when the market is anticipated to recover/not sure if the current mix of conditions and developments is to actually lead to a recovery [I tend to see the best case scenario as a restoration of normality]
if they just wanted to create a business for their children, they better look what happened to Hillary’s son in law