Hunter Maritime to Buy Five Capesize Bulkers from Oskar Wehr

The Marshall Islands-based Hunter Maritime Acquisition Corp. has decided to buy five Capesize dry bulk carriers in an en bloc transaction from Germany’s Oskar Wehr. 

The ships will be purchased for USD 139.4 million from five Cyprus-based companies affiliated with one or more members of the Oskar Wehr group of companies.

The vessels in question are MV Charlotte Selmer, MV Greta Selmer, MV Tom Selmer, MV Lene Selmer and MV Hugo Selmer, all of them built by Chinese shipbuilder New Times Shipbuilding.

The five bulkers have a combined cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 876,352 deadweight tons and an average fleet age of approximately 6.2 years. Four vessels are employed on time charter, expiring in July 2017, August 2017, December 2017 and February 2018, respectively.

“As part of the acquisition, the company expects to have the time charter agreements or other employment arrangements that are in place upon the consummation of the acquisition novated to the company or otherwise assumed by the company,” Hunter Maritime said.

Once the acquisition is closed, Ambra Shipmanagement, a company affiliated with the Oskar Wehr Group, will continue to provide technical management services for the vessels and Bocimar International NV, an affiliate of Hunter Maritime, will provide commercial management services for the bulkers, according to Hunter Maritime.

In connection with the acquisition which is subject to certain conditions, Hunter Maritime intends to offer to purchase up to 8.233,100 of its Class A common shares that were sold in the company’s initial public offering (IPO).