Among the most active of Greece’s shipping personalities is Peter G Livanos. He is also one of the most secretive seldom seen in public and never ready to comment, though his views are among the most sought after. He let’s others do the talking… well sometimes as the code of silence runs deep in the Livanos headquarters.
At the dawn of the millennium the Livanos-controlled Ceres Hellenic Enterprises was Greece’s largest shipowner, running a fleet of some 4.8m dwt. Today it is difficult to discover what sort of a fleet Ceres controls. He and his people always refer to investors.
Still, while not at the top of Greece’s biggest owners, that honour goes to John Angelicoussis and his near 19m dwt fleet of tankers, gas carriers and bulkers, Livanos, 54, certainly has his finger in many pies’
According to many people around the world, Livanos is probably one of the most influential behind the scenes figures in world shipping.
The chairman of Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises, is now best known as executive chairman of NYSE-listed GasLog, a major owner of LNG carriers. He founded its forerunner in 2001.
However, he serves as chairman, vice chairman, director or advisor of a host of shipping companies and industry related bodies, including Euronav, Seachem Tankers, Odfjell ASA, DVB Bank and ABS.
In light of his past and the way he likes to operate, the deal Livanos’ Ceres struck this week with the Robert Bugbee-led Scorpio Tankers is interesting as it opens the way for him to become a stakeholder in one of Wall Street’s current stars.
Fast expanding New York-listed Scorpio Tankers is to takeover ownership of four MR product tankers under construction for Ceres at SPP Shipbuilding in South Korea, after agreeing to issue new shares to “unaffiliated third parties”, including Ceres, in return for the ownership.
The MRs are four of eight 50,300dwt tankers ordered by Ceres last year, the quartet costing a reported $132m, all for completion in 2014. They are costing Scorpio, considerably more, a total of $151m and are similar to Scorpio's newbuildings at the same shipyard.
The transaction also includes a time charter out agreement for each of the four for a fixed daily revenue amount at current market levels plus a profit sharing scheme whereby earnings in excess of the base t/c rate will be split between the company and charterer, Valero. The first vessel delivered will be chartered out for a 24 month period, at a reported $17,000 a day, and the remaining three will each for 12 month periods.
Of the deal involving Ceres, Scorpio says about 30% of the $151m will consist of newly issued common shares of the company having a valuation based on the fair market value of the shares at the time of issuance. Shares will be issued to Ceres, Valero and a group of institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management; the remainder of the purchase price will be paid to the shipyard from cash-on-hand and bank debt.
The deal is similar to others Livanos has negotiated. In 1989, he formed Seachem Tankers, which joined forces with Odfjell in 2000, creating Odfjell ASA. He secured the transaction which merges his TankLog's assets to Euronav, with a stake in Euronav involved. Since 2005, Livanos has been vice chairman of Euronav NV, which is listed on the NYSE’s Euronext.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
