One measure of an industry beginning to emerge from the worst of the pandemic is the recent surge of consolidation talk on investor calls as companies report second-quarter earnings.
It involves two of the sector’s most active consolidators — Euronav of Belgium and Star Bulk Carriers of Greece — which lends an aura of credibility to the merger-and-acquisition ambitions.
But it may be too soon, according to one of shipping’s most experienced M&A bankers, Mark Friedman of New York’s Evercore.
