A broadened mandate and a diversified investor base for Connecticut-based Ridgebury Tankers is largely behind a spate of sales that now has seen the company offload 15 tankers so far in 2022.
In response to a query from TradeWinds on Tuesday, Ridgebury founder and chief executive Bob Burke said that about two years ago the outfit evolved from being fully backed by private equity’s Riverstone Holdings.
The company re-established itself as a platform managing separate investment vehicles for multiple investors including Riverstone. As such, Ridgebury does not own a single fleet and its decisions reflect the best moves for individual investments rather than a single “house” view, Burke said.
The company has been selling assets selectively to “derisk” certain investments and book substantial gains in the recent market run-ups, resulting in the increased activity.
The latest disposals see Ridgebury selling the 53,700-dwt Ridgebury Birch and Ridgebury Acacia (both built 2006) for slightly less than $17.5m each on behalf of such clients. The sales were reported by market sources and confirmed on Tuesday.
The sales appear to reflect a tidy profit, as the clients of Ridgebury bought the pair from Dee4 Capital Partners last summer at $12.1m each, according to valuation platform VesselsValue.
Burke did not want to get into details of the change in Ridgebury’s approach on Tuesday, but did seek to correct the notion that Ridgebury as a shipowner was calling the top of the market.
“We see substantial upside in the market over the next 24 months but we are never afraid to realise value for investors in cases where we bought at the bottom,” he said.
“We are also discussing new acquisitions with investors who recognise the small orderbook and increasing trade routes may very well lead to a very strong market for several years to come.”
The confirmation of the two MR sales comes one day after several shipbroking houses reported that the Westport-based shipowner had sold the 50,000-dwt Ridgebury Voyager (built 2008) for $19.2m.
Ridgebury purchased that vessel in a bloc of six comparably aged MRs for a reported total of $61m, or roughly $10m per ship.
As TradeWinds reported on Monday, the sale comes as MRs, along with the rest of the tanker space, are experiencing rising asset values.
The Baltic Exchange’s assessment of a five-year-old MR product tanker has reached $38.8m, the highest level for the index since 2009.
The Ridgebury fleet is down to a dozen remaining vessels after the latest sales.
