When the acquisition of the seller’s holding in T&T Bisso is complete the buyer intends to rename the company T&T Salvage LLC under a broader rebranding initiative led by president Mauricio Garrido.
“The final paperwork will be signed shortly,” he told TradeWinds in an exclusive interview Friday. “We intend to focus on areas like emergency response while Bisso will be more focused on the oil & gas industry- piplelines, heavylift projects and areas like that.”
The transaction follows the recent death of T&T patriarch H Rudy Teichman, who in 1957 planted the seeds of what would later become the international maritime conglomerate that forged the 50/50 partnership with the heads of the Bisso family in 2005.
Its unclear how much cash changed hands between companies that continue to be owned by descendants of their respective co-founders but Garrido says the Teichman clan will gain control of an anchor handler, three survey vessels and a cache of portable salvage equipment.
Bisso, which is headquartered in Houston but boasts a network of offices in Mexico and South America as well, will also hand over the keys to T&T Bisso’s outpost Singapore, he added before insisting the takeover wasn’t motivated by a falling out between the families.
When contacted for confirmation, the assistant to Bisso principal Beau Bisso said the salvage scion wasn’t interested in talking and had “no idea what we were talking about” before abruptly hanging up the phone. A colleague chalked up the lukewarm encounter to Bisso’s distaste for reporters.
Prominent members of Houston’s shipping elite were surprised when TradeWinds told them about a deal they described as “big big news” but said it’s not uncommon to see the next generation of shipowners point their companies in a different direction when predecessors pass the torch.
