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Connecting the dots about the new chief at ACMI

Connecting the dots about the new chief at ACMI
Shipping is about connecting the dots and looking for successes that might repeat. With that in mind, a recent announcement from AMCI, a commodity trading outfit based in Zug, that it had hired a new ceo, is particularly noteworthy.

AMCI, which has a diversified portfolio of natural resources investments, has taken on Harris Antoniou, well known as a banker most recently heading up shipping, energy and commodities at ABN Amro. The timing was interesting, especially for those who believe “there are no such things as coincidences.”

The announcement comes within a week or so of reports that a company called Empire Bulkers, which is tied to owner Alma Navigation, had purchased seven bulk carriers from a Korean lender. According to ship registry information, Alma already owns five capesize bulkers and a mixed bag of product tankers, another hot sector, and suezmaxes which are well not so hot.  Alma was linked to an abortive IPO in early 2010, during a mini-boomlet as some investors were sniffing recovery.

What is intriguing about the timing is a déjà vu back to around 2005, when capesize rates, the latest rage eight years later, were really hopping. At that time, the equity markets saw the listing of Quintina Maritime, a company captained by Stamatis Molaris, who had previously been with Stelmar. Quintana, which got swallowed up three years later into Excel Maritime, was backed by a number of players- including energy investor First Reserve.

Relevant to the “coincidence” at hand, its financial backers also included AMCI. Shortly after the IPO, then thriving Quintana entered into a $735m debt facility led by Fortis, where Antoniou was heading up its ship finance activities.

The announcement of Antoniou’s appointment should be viewed in the context of a larger trend. Ship finance has changed; when AMCI backed Quintana, private equity was not part of the financial mainstream. A decade later, things have changed; indeed a large shipper of minerals could provide a very sensible platform for buttressing a shipping business.

With a highly capable and extremely well respected shipping banker, who also knows his way around commodity markets, at the helm, we should be looking for some fresh deal flow out of Zug.