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Battle for Giuseppe Bottiglieri heats up

The battle for control of Italian owner Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company is not over. Despite a court in Naples dismissing Lighthouse’s latest restructuring plan for the line, an appeal has been lodged. Lighthouse – a vehicle jointly owned by Zagari controlled Augustea and Pappas controlled Oceanbulk – is in a tussle to take over the financially troubled line with Bain Capital.

Giuseppe Bottiglieri in a statement defined Lighthouse’s plan as speculative and added that it would have led the company to its liquidation and the loss of the jobs of its 340 employees, something Lighthouse rejects.

Raffaele Zagari, CEO of Augustea Group, told Splash today: “The reasons why the court rejected our plan appear unclear.” He claimed Lighthouse’s offer was better than Bain Capital’s.

Zagari said that while waiting for the tribunal’s decision on Lighthouse’s appeal, the creditors in the coming days will be called to vote only on the Bain Capital  plan which is understood to value the fleet at $112m while Oceanbulk-Augustea’s offer stands at $205m. VesselsValue, the online ship pricing portal, has the 15 vessels in the Giuseppe Bottiglieri fleet as being worth $221m today.

“The Bain Capital proposal is disadvantageous for creditors,” Zagari maintained. “From the banks point of view Bain’s offer would guarantee a 30% recovery ratio of their credits while the Lighthouse plan would make it possible for the lenders to get a recovery higher than 60% while maintaining the same workforce in Italy too,” he added.

Nicola Capuzzo

Nicola is a highly qualified journalist focused on transport economics, logistics and shipping with broad experience in both online and printed media. Specialties: shipping, ship finance, banking, commodities and port economics. He regularly interviews Europe's top shipowner executives for Maritime CEO magazine.
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