Ridgebury to sell tanker fleet
Ridgebury Tankers is to sell its fleet of suezmax, aframaxes and MR product tankers, keeping only its four VLCCs, brokers tell Splash.
The company has formally offered the vessels for sale individually or en bloc, sources added.
The vessels held for sale comprise Ridgebury’s seven suezmaxes, six MR product tankers and two aframaxes. VesselsValue.com estimates the ships’ collective market value to be around $519m.
This will leave the company, which is 98% owned by private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, with a fleet of four VLCCs, two of which were acquired earlier this year.
“This marks one of the first big returns for private equity in shipping – other PE firms will be looking on jealously,” one European analyst told Splash today.
Ridgebury, headed by well-known asset player CEO Bob Burke (pictured), acquired seven suezmaxes and six product tankers within 12 months of its being founded in 2013, as Burke told Maritime CEO last year.
Burke declined to comment on the sales when telephoned by Splash today.