Fund Management News

Maritime Partners,a Louisiana-based provider of maritime financing solutions primarily focused on Jones Act vessels, announced the addition of Stephen J. Bordes and Greg Chase to its executive leadership team.Bordes joins Maritime Partners as its chief financial officer, and Chase as as the firm’s chief legal officer.Bordes brings to the company more than 20 years of experience in the fields of finance and fund management. Prior to joining Maritime Partners, he served as the CFO for New York-based American Industrial Partners…

Shipping group Maersk said on Tuesday it was among a group of companies backing a plan to build Europe's largest green ammonia plant in Denmark as part of its ambition to shift to carbon-neutral ship fuel.The project, led by fund management firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), will convert green power from North Sea offshore wind parks to zero-carbon ammonia that can be used to power ships and as agricultural fertilizer.Maersk said last week it would accelerate plans to decarbonize seaborne container shipping by putting the world's first vessel powered by carbon-neutral fuel into ope

Seatankers, the powerful holding company of Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, said on Thursday it had hired a veteran fund manager to broaden the group’s portfolio and bring in outside capital in a new unit.Vegard Soeraunet, until recently an investment director at Norway’s ODIN Fund Management, will be in charge of “long-term and active ownership” outside of Seatankers’s shipping and offshore oil services industries, the company said.“Getting the opportunity to take this to the next level with a new structure under Seatankers, is a great opportunity,” Soeraunet said in a statement.It was the second key appointment at Seatankers in recent days following the August 28 naming of a hedge fund manager as its new chief executive.While Fredriksen initially built his fortune from shippi

Greece-based global shipping company specializing in the transportation of dry bulk commodities Pioneer Marine said that it has  entered into a commercial management agreement with Tufton Oceanic Funds.The agreement is  to undertake the commercial management of five dry bulk vessels, further enhancing its operating platform, said the shipowner and global drybulk handysize transportation service provider.Upon the initiation of this cooperation, Pioneer will have under commercial management a total fleet of 24 handysize and one supramax vessels, including owned fleet.Tufton Oceanic is a fund management firm for the maritime, energy related…

Sentinel Midstream LLC has secured shipper commitments needed to move forward on a proposed $1 billion crude export terminal off the Texas coast, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.The firm's Texas GulfLink project is one of eight proposed U.S. deepwater export projects seeking to load supertankers that carry up to 2 million barrels of crude. Sentinel last week became the fifth to apply for federal permits.Sentinel's offshore facility could begin operations in early 2020 and load up to 2 million bpd from single-point mooring buoys in deepwaters 30 miles off Freeport…

Dallas-based oil and gas company Sentinel Midstream is planning to develop a deepwater crude oil export terminal, located near Freeport, Texas. The completed facility will be capable of fully loading Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) vessels.Texas GulfLink will include an onshore terminal with up to 18 million barrels of storage, an offshore 42-in. pipeline, and a manned offshore platform to facilitate port operations with two  Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoys. Projected export loading rates will be up to 85,000 barrels per hour, with a nominal capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day over the course of a calendar year.“Texas GulfLink will provide the United States with an economical solution to clear the over-supply barrels destined for the Gulf Coast…

The fund management firm for the maritime Tufton Oceanic Assets has agreed to acquire a container ship for $13mln.The London-listed specialist fund said that the containership is designed to haul fresh fruit all over the globe. "The ship is being lent on a two year charter to a leading private operator of containerships in the fresh fruit transportation sector," it said.According to a stock exchange annoucement, the yield is in line with the targets expressed in the Company’s C Share prospectus.This is the second investment made from the C Share proceeds announced on 11 October 2018. This acquisition will take the Company’s fleet to eight vessels…

U.S. industrial conglomerate General Electric Co's chairman Jeff Immelt retired earlier-than-expected on Monday, with the company naming Chief Executive John Flannery as his replacement. Immelt, who was expected to retire by the end of this year, had resigned as GE's CEO in June amid amounting pressure from activist-investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management for operation changes. GE said Immelt also retired as director and chairman of the board of directors of Baker Hughes, a GE company. Baker Hughes' CEO Lorenzo Simonelli will succeed Immelt as chairman of the company's board. W. Geoffrey Beattie was also appointed as lead independent director at Baker Hughes, GE said.

The Board of Directors of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation the largest provider of dredging services in the United States and a major provider of environmental and remediation services, announced today that Ryan Levenson has been appointed to the Board of Directors, effective December 27, 2016. Mr. Levenson has also been appointed to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Concurrent with the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, the size of the class of directors of the Board with a term expiring at such meeting shall automatically decrease from three to two members. In addition, subject to certain exceptions, Great Lakes has agreed to include Mr. Levenson on the Company’s slate of nominees for the election of directors at the 2017 Annual Meeting.

Northern Fund Management America LLC (“Northern Shipping”), an alternative capital provider to the shipping and offshore oil service sectors, said that it has completed a final closing for Northern Shipping Fund III LP, with total investor commitments of $505 million. The fund is one of the largest dedicated to maritime credit. The oversubscribed maritime credit fund, managed by Northern Shipping, exceeded its initial target of $400 million. The fund received commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors including public and private pension plans and other institutions, as well as high net worth family offices and shipping executives.

Northern Fund Management America LLC (“Northern Shipping”), an alternative capital provider to the shipping and offshore oil service sectors, said that it has completed a final closing for Northern Shipping Fund III LP, with total investor commitments of $505 million. The fund is one of the largest dedicated to maritime credit. The oversubscribed maritime credit fund, managed by Northern Shipping, exceeded its initial target of $400 million. The fund received commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors including public and private pension plans and other institutions, as well as high net worth family offices and shipping executives.

General Electric Co said on Monday it would merge its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc, creating the world's second-largest oilfield services provider as competition heats up to supply more-efficient products and services to the energy industry after several years of low crude prices. The deal to create a company with $32 billion in annual revenue will combine GE's strengths in making equipment long-prized by oil producers with Baker Hughes's expertise in drilling and fracking new wells. Shares of Baker Hughes were down nearly 7 percent, a drop that executives said likely was due to the deal's complicated structure. GE is already the world's largest oilfield equipment maker, supplying blowout preventers, pumps and compressors used in exploration and production.

The U.S. dollar rose to a three week high against the yen on Friday, on a report of likely further monetary policy easing from the Bank of Japan, while a rise in crude oil prices was offset by poor technology sector earnings, leaving Wall Street stocks steady. The dollar rose more than 2.0 percent against the yen to 111.80 yen, its highest level since April 1 after a media report said the BOJ is considering expanding its negative rate policy to bank loans and could cut rates further. A rise in oil prices helped energy stocks, but disappointing earnings from top technology companies, including Google's parent, Alphabet, weighed on the tech sector on Wall Street, leaving the U.S.'s benchmark S&P 500 stock index little changed for the day.

Keppel plans to consolidate its interests in business trust, REIT and fund management under Keppel Capital and grow its asset management business. In a major restructuring exercise to grow the contribution from its Investment Division, Keppel Corporation Limited (Keppel Corporation) plans to consolidate its interests in business trust management, real estate investment trust (REIT) management and fund management businesses (collectively, "Asset Management") under Keppel Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. (Keppel Capital), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation. Asset Management is an important part of Keppel Corporation's strategy and business. Keppel Corporation currently has four subsidiaries ("Subsidiaries") in Asset Management, namely Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management Pte. Ltd.

Greece has submitted a fresh proposal which includes hiking shipping taxes and to gradually remove the industry's special tax status to the EU in a bid to secure a 53.5 billion euro ($59bn) rescue package to help cover its debts until 2018 and stave off bankruptcy. According to reports among the tax proposals is increased tax on shipping companies, which currently enjoy preferential treatment under the Greek constitution. No details of what the higher taxes would be were available. However taxing the shipping industry is a risky gamble, given the important part that shipping plays in Greece's struggling economy. Tony Foster, chief executive of Marine Capital…

As global shipping grapples with its worst downturn in 30 years, private equity firms are unwinding massive bets made on the sector in a move set to accelerate a restructuring of the shipping industry. Private equity invested tens of billions in global shipping after the 2008 financial crisis, but weaker Chinese demand and an oversupply of ships has driven down freight rates and caused firms to idle vessels and in some cases file for bankruptcy. At least five private-equity backed shipping firms are seeking share listings…

Keppel Infrastructure Holdings Pte Ltd (KI), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, has agreed to sell 51% stake of Keppel Merlimau Cogen Pte Ltd (KMC), which owns Keppel Merlimau Cogen Plant to Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT or the Trust) for a cash consideration of $510 million (KMC Transaction). The agreement was signed with Keppel  Infrastructure Fund Management Pte Ltd (KIFM), in its capacity as trustee-manager of KIT. Located on Jurong Island, Singapore, Keppel Merlimau Cogen Plant is a 1,300 MW combined cycle gas turbine power generation facility and is the first asset proposed to be injected into the Trust under the expanded "Right-of-First-Refusal" (ROFR) deed between KI and KIFM.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT), through its wholly owned subsidiary1, has entered into an agreement with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to provide additional incineration capacity to the Senoko Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant, one of the three facilities under KIT's current portfolio. To increase its capacity while maintaining its land use footprint, the Senoko WTE plant will undergo upgrading, currently planned to take place between 3Q 2015 and 3Q 2016. The upgrade will progressively increase the plant's capacity to treat additional waste volumes. Upon completion, the contracted incineration capacity of the plant will increase by up to 10% from 2,100 tonnes per day. The capacity payments from NEA will correspondingly be increased.

So what’s keeping ship operators awake at night these days? Plenty, it seems. Sluggish recovery from a lingering worldwide recession, unsustainable debt loads, endemic overcapacity in most shipping trades, punishing freight rates, rising costs of fuel and regulatory compliance and a lingering sense that ships are not running as efficiently as they could. The last two topics – reducing fuel costs while complying with emission regulations and improving ship operating efficiency – will take center stage at SHIPPINGInsight 2014, scheduled for Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 in Stamford, Conn.

Keppel Corporation Limited announced that Teo Soon Hoe, Senior Executive Director, Keppel Corporation will retire June 1, 2014. Teo will step down as Chairman of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd (Keppel T&T) and non-independent director of Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management Pte Ltd (KIFM), Trustee Manager of Keppel Infrastructure Trust, with effect from the same date. Teo will continue to represent Keppel Corporation as its nominee director on the boards of Tianjin Eco-city companies, and k1 Ventures Limited. Further, Keppel Land Limited (Keppel Land) and Keppel T&T have appointed him as Senior Advisor to their respective boards and he will also continue to represent Keppel T&T as its nominee director on the board of M1 Limited.

Private equity has pumped $32 bln into shipping in past 2 years. Ships totaling 299 mln dwt to enter global fleet from May. Some private equity-backed shipping IPOs have been put off on weak sentiment. The shipping industry faces a looming capacity glut as billions of dollars pumped into it by private equity have stoked a vessel-buying spree, threatening its prospects just as the sector is emerging from its worst downturn in three decades. Backed by private equity and hedge fund financing, shipping companies have placed orders for thousands of new ships over the past two years, reminiscent of the ship-ordering binge of the mid-2000s that eventually led to overcapacity after the global financial crisis severely hit cargo demand.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is forecasting Aberdeen’s booming energy sector will be the source of a new wave of companies heading for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Renewed confidence and a swathe of foreign investment from South Korea, China and other first-time North Sea entrants has had a knock-on effect on E&P and oil and gas services companies. This newfound vibrancy has directly influenced the LSE’s decision to hold an IPO Forum in Aberdeen this month (Thursday, October 31) bringing together a team of leading capital markets, fund management, accounting and legal experts.

The Directors of Keppel Corporation Limited advise the following unaudited results of the Group for the full year ended 31 December 2011. The FY 2011 Report Card and the Address by Mr Choo Chiau Beng, Chief Executive Officer, are below. I am pleased to announce that 2011 was yet another record year for Keppel Corporation. Our net profit grew by 14% to a new high of nearly $1.5 billion. This is the fifth year running that our net profit has surpassed the $1 billion mark. Also for the fifth consecutive year, our Return on Equity has remained above 20%. Economic Value Added has also increased to $1,024 million for the year. With these strong results, the Board of Directors will be recommending a total distribution to shareholders of 43 cents per share for the whole year.