Peter Weernink has bought out his old company, SwissMarine, with a little help from John Fredriksen.
Weernink, who quit SwissMarine to set up his own Singapore Marine business from the ski resort of Verbier this year, has bought out his old company.
“This acquisition will significantly accelerate the growth of Singapore Marine with the combined companies controlling a fleet of 150 vessels with a strong focus on capesizes,” Singapore Marine said in a statement.
To help fund the acquisition, Singapore Marine has raised a total of $44m with John Frediksen’s Golden Ocean investing a further $10.2m to go alongside the $20m it put forward in April.
Thomas Semino, chief commercial officer of Golden Ocean and a director of Singapore Marine, commented:”While Singapore Marine will operate independently from Golden Ocean and our participation in the company is primarily financial, we expect to derive additional value through this relationship. Golden Ocean’s significant commercial capabilities and the depth of its market intelligence will be further enhanced by this new relationship.”
Weernink founded Singapore Marine in April with an initial focus on the post-panamax to capesize vessel segments. In addition to Fredriksen and Golden Ocean, the company’s investors include Ionic Shipping, the Martinos family (Thenamaris), Angus Paul (Goodbulk), John Michael Radziwill (CMTC and Goodbulk), Will Snellings (Marianasfund) and the Veniamis family (Golden Union).
