Cypriot alternative investment fund Pelagic Partners has bolstered its product tanker fleet. Newly established Pelagic Yield Fund has purchased two 2006-built, 50,000 dwt ships and renamed them the Pelagic Taimen and Pelagic Tarpon. The STX-built ships were sold en bloc for $24.8m by Germany’s NSB. One of the vessels will be employed on long-term charter, while the other will trade within the Norient Product Pool.
“The acquisition clearly falls within our target market sector,” said Atef Abou Merhi, managing director of Pelagic Partners. “Given the market fundamentals within the product tanker space, the company remains quite bullish about the next two to three years, planning further acquisitions within this specific segment.”
Within 22 months of operations, Pelagic Partners now has assets under management approaching $100m having also invested in other ship sectors including dry bulk and LPG.
“With the current projects in the pipeline, we are optimistic to keep growing at the same pace for the remainder of the year,” said Merhi.
Plans are afoot to launch two new funds while still building up the Pelagic Yield Fund.
