CPLP tanker activity to be merged with DSS
Capital Product Partners LP (CPLP), controlled by Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, and Diamond S Shipping (DSS), whose main stakeholder is the WL Ross & Co private investment fund founded in 2000 by US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross, announced on Wednesday they have reached a merger deal for a new entity whose value is estimated at $1.65 billion.
The agreement provides for CPLP to spin off its tanker activities, contributing 25 vessels to the creation of a new listed company that will merge with the activities of DSS. The merger will result in one of the biggest listed tanker companies in the world, to be named Diamond S Shipping Inc, based in Greenwich, Connecticut and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The deal will be implemented through a share swap. CPLP’s shareholders will control 33 percent of the new entity, with 67 percent controlled by the DSS stakeholders. The board of the new company will include Gerasimos Ventouris and Gerasimos Kalogeratos.
CPLP will supply 22 MR tankers and three Suezmaxes, while its shareholders will get a premium of 10.7 percent of the fleet’s value, given that the merger allows for Diamond S Shipping’s immediate listing. The new company’s fleet will consist of 68 tankers in total.
