Prospective Buyers News

Exxon Mobil Corp chose BlackRock as the potential buyer for its majority stake in Italy's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, the U.S. oil producer said in a statement.The stake sale drew interest from infrastructure funds and international groups as Italy is expected to increase its LNG imports to partly replace the gas it used to get via pipeline from Russia.In March, Exxon said it was considering selling its 70.68% interest in the offshore Adriatic LNG Terminal…

A $75-million superyacht linked to a sanctioned Russian steel billionaire was auctioned on Tuesday in Gibraltar, court sources said, in what is understood to be the first sale of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.The Axioma was granted entry into Gibraltarian waters and then impounded by the authorities in March after U.S. bank JP Morgan said its alleged owner Dmitry Pumpyansky had reneged on the terms of a $20 million loan.The 72.5-metre vessel is being auctioned by the Gibraltar Admiralty Court. It was listed for one day, with closed bids to be sent electronically by midday on Tuesday, a court spokesman said.Nigel Hollyer…

Commonwealth LNG has received commitments from European buyers to take almost half of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its planned 8.4-million-tonnes-per-year export terminal in Louisiana, Chief Executive Officer Paul Varello said on Wednesday.The Commonwealth project is one of more than 10 LNG export terminals under development or construction in the United States along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to take advantage of soaring demand for the supercooled fuel amid booming…

Embracing and spanning the full breadth of Great Lakes geography and business mix, GLG’s Joe Starck has his multi-missioned firm looking to the future – in more ways than one.The Great Lakes Group (GLG) takes its beginnings from its 1899 incorporation by industrial icon John D. Rockefeller, who formed the Great Lakes Towing to satisfy the demands of a Midwest industrial revolution that brought bigger ships to the region. Existing vessels, unable to keep up with demand, were supplemented and replaced by a fleet of as many as 100 tugboats; the first steel tugs in the region. GLG still has a tug that was part of that original operation.

The summer season in most of Europe has been off to a sunny and warm start, which has many longingly wishing to spend time at sea. Those with access to the privileged world of Superyachts will be looking forward to getting underway and traveling the world. It’s a great time to be a yacht owner, but the follow-on is that due to the increased utilization, the number of willing sellers typically drops. This leads to a slowdown in the sale and purchase activity and can be a good time for yacht brokers to look at taking their own summer breaks. This seasonal slowdown provides the perfect time for market watchers to sit back and look at the activity over the busier winter season transactions.Source: Vessels ValueThe Monaco Yacht show normally initiates the busiest market window.

Gail India launches tender to sell 24 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from the Cove Point export facility in the United States in 2019-2020, according to trade sources. The tender is split into three tranches, with the first tranche offering six cargoes in the first half of 2019, six in H2 2019, and 12 in 2020, traders said . Prospective buyers must bid for all the cargoes in any given tranche. Gail purchased 2.3 million tonnes annually from Dominion Energy's Cove Point export plant, with an added 3.5 million tonnes annually due from Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana. Gail has already struck various swap and sales deals with Royal Dutch Shell and trader Gunvor, among others, to reduce its near-term supply obligations from Sabine Pass.

For now, the Sale & Purchase (S&P)  market is pretty dead (because the charter markets are also slightly lifeless). S&P transactions for tankers have almost halved so far this year (Jan 1-Sept 2), reports  Alibra Shipping Ltd. Research. This year, Alibra has tracked 191 tankers changing hands, compared to 303 at this point last year. Some 15 VLCCs have been sold this year, compared to 42 during the 2015 period. This year, 4 VLCCs have been sold as resales compared to 20 this time last year. The tragedy of the S&P market really snaps into focus when we look at the average price at which resale VLCCs were sold: during the 2015 period, it was $98.9m per vessel. This year to date, the figure is just $84.25m.

Greece only received a bid from China's Cosco Group for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, the operator of the country's biggest port, the privatisation agency said on Tuesday. The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras halted the port privatisation after winning elections in January last year but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in August. Privatisations, a key element of Greece's bailouts since 2010, have produced revenue of only 3.5 billion euros so far. Athens concluded a 1.2 billion-euro airport leasing deal with Germany's Fraport in December, hoping this would help it to meet its target for privatisation proceeds of 3 billion euros this year.

Greece said that final bids for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, operator of its biggest port, were submitted on Monday but the prospective buyers will not be made public until early next month. Alexis Tsipras's government had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids was 1700 GMT on Monday. "The procedure for the submission of binding offers for Piraeus Port Authority was completed today," the country's privatisation agency (HRADF) said in a statement. The agency said there will be an announcement on Jan. 12 when the bids will be unsealed.

Greece expects binding bids to be submitted later on Monday for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, operator of its biggest port, but will not announce the prospective buyers before early next month, two sources at the country's privatisation agency (HRADF) said on Monday. The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids ends at 1700 GMT on Monday. A senior HRADF official said the bidders will not be announced before early January when foreign observers on the agency's board and experts attend the opening of the offers. "Everyone should be present when the offers are opened," the official said.

Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund Temasek Holdings has put Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) up for sale, says a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report. The WSJ reported that Temasek was in talks with one buyer in recent months but the two sides could not agree on a price for the loss-making company. The WSJ put NOL's market capitalization at 2.3 billion Singapore dollars ($1.7 billion). The report, citing unnamed sources, said the liner company has been "shopped to prospective buyers" in recent months. NOL is about 67 per cent owned by Temasek, going by Bloomberg data. The company had been in talks with a prospective buyer, but "the two sides couldn't agree on price", added the report.

Simrad Yachting, announced today its partnership with Key West Boats, Inc. With a reputation for uncompromising attention to detail, particularly in construction and design, Key West has established a history of a worry-free experience for owners and unsurpassed resale value for prospective buyers. Key West has selected the Simrad NSO evo2 system to be the standard navigation system for the new series of Billistic high-performance offshore fishing boats – adding value and excellence to this heritage. The Billistic 351 by Key West is the first of three exciting new models in the series. This beautiful 35-foot center console, designed for offshore fishing…

Cash-strapped ferry operator SNCM looks set to seek legal protection from its creditors after Europe's highest court ruled on Thursday it must pay back 220 million euros ($289 million) of French state aid. SNCM, owned 66 percent by transport group Transdev, has racked up losses as low-cost competitors have eaten away its market share and is fast running out of funds. Transdev - itself a joint venture between water and waste firm Veolia and French state bank CDC - has said it will…

New work boats are never purchased out of want, but rather need – imminent need. Such a need prompts buyers to scour the web and perhaps their favorite maritime magazines for information on potential designs that appear to be a good fit. The next step is simply to make contact with a boatbuilder and request a price based upon the similar vessel shown via the website or marketing materials. Go ahead – ask for the price, but will it truly be meaningful? Perhaps it may offer a benchmark, but in the realm of custom boatbuilding no two boats are rarely ever alike.

Foreign Demand For U.S. Military And Commercial Vessels Is Brisk; For Now. In the heavy shadow of possible sequestration-induced federal budget cuts, some U.S. companies are busy supplying vessels to overseas customers under the Navy’s Foreign Military Sales program and through private contracts to foreign government and firms. Demand for offshore oil vessels is strong. A big chunk of overseas business now is under the U.S. FMS, transferring defense equipment, services and training to other nations. Countries approved for the FMS pay for vessels themselves and/or with U.S. government help.

A massive $8.5 billion luxury floating metropolis, the biggest boat in history, is reportedly set to be built in Honduras in January. Boat builder Freedom Ship Inc. plans to construct a tax-free floating city that will circumnavigate the globe to give inhabitants perpetual sunshine. Measuring 4,320 ft. (1,500 m) by 750 ft. wide (250 m) and 340 ft. deep (130 m), the boat will house sports centers, parks, theaters and nightclubs, all to be built in Honduras' Caribbean port of Trujillo. Around five times longer than the biggest cruise liner now afloat, able to carry 115,000 people and land jets on its top deck, the vessel will cost $8.5 billion, almost twice the Honduran gross domestic product.

A massive $8.5 billion luxury floating metropolis, the biggest boat in history, is reportedly on the verge of being built in the poverty-stricken Central American nation of Honduras. "If things work out the way we want, we should be starting in January," Mario Mossi, agent for boat builder Freedom Ship Inc. in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, said. Measuring 4,320 ft. (1,500 m) by 750 ft. (250 m) wide and 340 ft. (130 m) deep, the boat will be designed to house sports centers, parks, theaters and nightclubs, all to be built in Honduras' Caribbean port of Trujillo, Mossi said. Approximately five times longer than the biggest cruise liner now afloat…

ATHENS, GREECE – March 24, 2011 - Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (“TEN” or the “Company”) (NYSE:TNP) today announced the delivery of the 2001-built aframax tanker Opal Queen to her new owners. The capital gain of over $5 million while the free cash of over $16 million from this sale will be recorded in the first quarter of 2011, while the free cash to be generated will be used for future vessel opportunities. George Saroglou, Chief Operating Officer, said “Sale & Purchase activity is an integral part of TEN’s operations that has generated close to $280 million in capital gains.

With the the task of securing tens of thousands of miles of U.S. Coast, agencies at the federal, state and local levels are increasingly turning to high-performance boats. In turn, these buyers rely on premiere events such as the Multi Agency Craft Conference (MACC) to experience the latest tech first hand. In its seventh year, over 1,300 representatives convened for the 3-day event at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Va. where MACC provided an expansive venue for government and commercial marine companies alike. As the emphasis on littoral combat continues to permeate, decision makers gather to absorb invaluable information, including the latest technologies to equip the mission-minded modern fleet.

55' Sport Fishing Trawler To Be Designed For Chinese Customer, Builder By Boksa Marine Design . Boksa Marine Design is currently working with Xiamen South Coast Marine Yacht Building Co., Ltd. to develop the design for a new line of 55' Sport Fishing Trawlers. The trawler is expected to meet the growing demand for sport fishing boats in the Chinese consumer market. Much like the rest of the Asian yachting and boating market, the Chinese market is growing quickly. Production boats - specifically sport fishing boats, cruisers and mid-size luxury yachts - are seeing more and more interest from an increasingly affluent Chinese consumer base. Built to China Classification Society ( CCS ) rules, the sport fishing trawler will measure 55' in length with a 17' beam.

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders returned to work after the company laid off 185 employees Nov. 2. Shortly thereafter, the company filed for bankruptcy protection, a move necessitated by a big lawsuit filed by a disgruntled customer. While the bankruptcy issues are far from settled, Nichols Brothers was allowed to negotiate with individual boat owners to see that their projects, shut down on Nov. 2, could be completed. Those boat owners are now paying the workers’ salaries, as Nichols Brothers as a company is broke and is up for sale. The rehiring process will continue as more existing contracts are placed online though negotiations with individual companies.

Decom North Sea (DNS), the organization which represents the North Sea’s oil and gas decommissioning industry, has welcomed changes in the budget which will boost the sector, leading to new jobs and investment in new equipment. With annual decommissioning expenditure in the North Sea forecast to top £1billion within a few years and a total of about £35billion due to be spent over the next 20 to 30 years, DNS had called for the budget to provide long-term certainty. The forum has around 200 members, drawn from across the full spectrum of the industry, including operators and contractors. The Government announced it will introduce a package of oil and gas measures to secure billions of pounds of additional investment in the UK Continental Shelf…

A number of prospective buyers have emerged for the companies of the Sietas Group. This is the result of the extensive investor search conducted by Berthold Brinkmann, receiver of the Sietas shipyard: "A number of people are interested in an overall solution, and there is special interest in Neuenfelder Maschinenfabrik (NMF) and Norderwerft. Today, the board of creditors of the Sietas shipyard asked me to enter into concrete negotiations with the prospective buyers." As reported, these prospective buyers have already submitted indicative offers, and they are to concretise and confirm these offers by mid-May. For this purpose, an in-depth due diligence audit is now starting, including the disclosure of all business documents of the Sietas shipyard, NMF and Norderwerft.