London: Athens-based Seanergy Maritime Holdings has received delivery of the Japan-built capesize vessel Leadership (171,199 dwt, built 2001), marking the completion of only the third capesize S&P transaction seen this year.
The vessel was acquired in January for $17.3m from “an unaffiliated third party”, Seanergy said.
Only 63 dry cargo vessels have been bought and sold so far this year, compared to 164 sales between January 1 and March 23 in 2014.
Rock-bottom rates have sucked all liquidity from the market, which accounts for the subdued S&P activity. Seanergy secured funds for its acquisition through a mix of bank finance and a shareholder loan.
“We managed to secure a loan facility from a reputable financial institution to fund a significant part of the transaction despite the challenging banking environment in the dry bulk sector,” Stamatis Tsantanis, Seanergy’s chairman & CEO, said today. “The remaining part of this acquisition was funded by a funding arrangement with one of our major shareholders.”
Capes built in 2001 have lost around 50% in value over the past year, according to estimates from VesselsValue.com.
“We believe that Seanergy is in a unique position to rebuild its fleet at the lowest part of the dry bulk market of the last 20 years. We are also exploring other investment opportunities that we expect to generate significant value to our shareholders,” Tsantanis said.
