Middle EastTankers

Tristar buys ESHIPS from Oldendorff for $90m

UAE-based logistics group Tristar has confirmed its acquisition of Abu Dhabi’s ESHIPS (Emirates Ship Investment Company) for $90m from Egon Oldendorff GmbH & Co KG, part of Oldendorff Carriers. The sale was first mooted in January.

Tristar will acquire ESHIPS’ fleet of five chemical tankers and two small LPG carriers, which are on a long-term timecharter to an unnamed oil major. The vessels operate mostly in coastal trades. VesselsValue.com currently estimates their collective market value at around $75.5m.

“This acquisition is a perfect fit to our longer-term plans to diversify revenue and make shipowning an integral part of our strategy to build a fully integrated liquid logistics business,” Eugene Mayne, group chief executive of Tristar, said in a statement.

In 2014,  Mayne told Maritime CEO his company aims to be “a major player” in the clean product tanker segment. In 2013, Tristar inked a contract with South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for six 50,000-dwt MR product tankers, which will be chartered to oil majors when they deliver in May this year.

Tristar’s owned tanker fleet will number more than 20 vessels once the acquisition has closed and the newbuildings have been delivered.

Oldendorff teamed up with a UAE government fund to take over ESHIPS from the state-owned Mubadala Development Company in 2014. Peter Twiss, CEO of Oldendorff Carriers, said at the time: “We see considerable upside in the modern tankers, which are trading for oil majors. The results of the due diligence have convinced us that we can expect a lot of synergies from the transaction.”

Holly Birkett

Holly is Splash's Online Editor and correspondent for the UK and Mediterranean. She has been a maritime journalist since 2010, and has written for and edited several trade publications. She is currently studying for membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. In 2013, Holly won the Seahorse Club's Social Media Journalist of the Year award. She is currently based in London.
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