Oaktree develops financing model for smaller owners seeking secondhand bargains
A new ship finance vehicle has been created by Oaktree Capital aimed at helping smaller owners snap up secondhand tonnage.
Martin Hugger, managing director of the new company, Meerbaum Capital Solutions, told Splash today: “We will focus on small, high quality shipping companies, who have limited access to bank finance due to regulatory constraints that banks face these days.”
Hugger formerly headed Greek shipping for Commerzbank and has been in charge of Oceanbulk
Maritime’s German activities since 2013. Hugger is joined by Hamish Norton at Meerbaum. Norton, previously a New York investment banker, has been president of Petros Pappas’s Star Bulk since 2013 as well as holding the position of CFO at Oceanbulk Maritime.
“Our clients can provide finance for one ship or a fleet, in amounts ranging from $5m to $40m,” Norton said in a release sent to Splash.
“Our clients will finance mostly secondhand purchases of these owners that want to take advantage of current low price levels and will look into all major vessel types with liquid S&P markets,” Hugger said.
An initial focus will be on bareboat hire-purchase with other secured financing being decided a case-by-case basis.