Tanker secondhand prices have been on a tear for the past few months. One canny watcher of these price movements has been Anil Sharma, who has decided to cash in on some of the recent asset appreciation.
Best known for his ship recycling activities at Global Marketing Systems (GMS), Sharma also controls Lila Shipping, a fast growing shipowning unit based in Dubai.
Lila has been marketing a swathe of vintage tanker tonnage in recent weeks, cementing a busy year for the low profile company, in which Splash has tracked 11 ships in and five out with some eye-catching asset plays too.
Brokers note the sale of the 113,000 dwt, 2007-built aframax Lila Fujairah for just under $28m. The DSME-built ship was bought in April as Wafrah for just $17.5m.
Another notable recent deal involves the Bohai-built Lila Guangzhou, a suezmax that has just fetched $23m, having joined Sharma’s fleet in late March for $16.5m.
A third tanker sold in recent weeks involves the 20,000 dwt Lila Frontier, a stainless steel chemical tanker, for which no price has been revealed.
Another ship, the 165,000 dwt Lila Shenzhen, is now being marketed for $23m, a vessel Lila paid COSCO some $16.5m for in April.
Lila’s origins trace back to 2007, operating on the sidelines of the cash buyer business of GMS, which Sharma had founded 15 years prior. The Lila site today lists the company with 26 ships and an ambition to grow the fleet to 50 vessels within four years. The fleet is a very diverse mix of all ship types including one cruise vessel.
