Shipowner Giuseppe Bottiglieri and his daughter, Mariella, have been ousted from the bulker and tanker owning company they established.
The move follows differences over strategy with management consultants appointed by the private-equity owners of Italy's Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Co.
The difference came to a head when a new board of three executives from consultants Alvarez & Marsal were installed as replacements for the Bottiglieri family.
Alessandro Ranzoli has taken the chief executive role and Adriano Bianchi has become non-executive chairman. Adamo Ceriani is the third member appointed to the board.
The move comes more than three years after the Naples-based owner was taken over by private equity fund Bain Capital.
But Italian shipping sources believe the Bottiglieri family was rankled by the decision to take on expensive consultants with little shipping experience.
They added that the company has been running out of cash, and is expected to close the financial year with a loss of $38m.
Sad end
The move marks the end to the tenure of Giuseppe Bottiglieri, 72, as chairman of the company.
He formed the eponymous outfit with his wife, Gaetana Cozzolino, in 2005 following a split with another branch of the family.
Since then, Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Co has been fronted by Mariella, 42, as chief executive. However, she declined to comment when contacted by TradeWinds.
The change comes during a difficult time for the Italian outfit.
It entered into a partnership with Bain Capital after filing for court protection in early 2017.
Since then, it has been working on a restructuring plan, which resulted in the sale of four vessels to date.
TradeWinds reported this week that the outfit sold its only capesize — the 175,000-dwt Giuseppe Bottiglieri (built 2011) — to Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime for $15.7m.
In January, Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Co disposed of three MR tankers: the 40,166-dwt Manuela Bottiglieri, Alessandra Bottiglieri and Mariella Bottiglieri (all built 2002).
The tanker Ghetty Bottiglieri (built 2002) remains in the fleet, and the company still operates a fleet of around 10 post-panamax bulkers.
