Germany’s Rickmers Holding and E.R. Capital Holding GmbH & Cie. KG have signed a declaration of intent to merge their respective shipmanagement units, Rickmers Maritime Services and E.R. Schiffahrt, into a global entity that would manage around 220 vessels.
“The aim is to pool strengths in a highly competitive market to further promote expansion of the shipmanagement business and increase the new company’s capabilities,” said ER Capital, which is a financial holding company for maritime service providers including ship managers E.R. Schiffahrt and E.R. Offshore and investment companies such as Nordcapital.
The review process is expected to take several weeks.
The proposed consolidation follows a recent interview with Andreas Hadjipetrou, joint managing director of Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement, who told Maritime CEO the shipmanagement sector would see further mergers and acquisitions, “but we will also see new entrants in the market”.
