Idan Ofer’s Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping and Israel-based XT Shipping have closed a deal to acquire the chemical tanker fleet of BW Chemical Tankers. First reported in November, the deal – worth approximately $350m – for 13 vessels had subjects lifted just before Christmas after financing was put in place. The vessels were acquired between the two Ofer companies with a view to taking advantage of an improving chemical tanker market. Now that subjects are lifted, over the next six months delivery of the vessels will be completed and all 13 will go into the Ace Quantum chemical tanker pool, which will grow to around 35 ships. The vessels acquired are the BW Argon, BW Boron, BW Cobalt, BW Gallium, BW Helium, BW Iridium, BW Lithium, BW Mercury, BW Mia, BW Neon, BW Radon, BW Silicon and BW Stream, all which are in and around the 19,900 dwt mark. The chemical tanker sector has seen plenty of consolidation in the last 18 months, notably deals including Team Tankers acquiring Laurin in April and the announcement yesterday that MOL has acquired Denmark’s Nordic Tankers. Grant Rowles Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.
Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping and Israel's XT Shipping have bought BW Chemical Tankers' entire fleet of 35 vessels. The buyers, both owned by business magnate Idan Ofer, will pay approximately $130m to bring the tankers, each with an estimated capacity of 19,900 deadweight tonnage, into the Ace Quantum chemical tanker pool, boosting its total to 13 ships. The chemical tanker market has been improving of late, and there has been several consolidation deals over the last 18 months, with Team Tankers acquiring Laurin and MOL recently purchasing Nordic Tankers.