Owner Andreas Hadjiyiannis acquired two tankers last week, continuing his policy of expanding in the sector amid falling values and distressed sales.
Market sources say his company Hellenic Tankers has agreed to buy one VLCC and a long-range 2 (LR2) product tanker, bringing the number of ships it has purchased since December to six.
Hadjiyiannis has emerged as the new owner of the 304,000-dwt VLCC Nichioh (built 2004), purchased from Japanese interests for a price in the low $23m – a price slightly below the figure initially reported on Friday.
The Nichioh is to become the third VLCC in the fleet of Hellenic Tankers, which entered that arena last December, with the purchase of the Samsung Heavy Industries-built, 309,000-dwt Arion (built 2001) from compatriot Andriaki Shipping for about $22m.
Hadjiyiannis’s buying spree also extended to product tankers last week.
He is believed to have acquired the 105,400-dwt River Eternity (built 2006) from Japan’s K Line at a price below $13m.
Hellenic Tankers officials didn’t comment on the information, in line with standard policy not to comment on commercial transactions.
If confirmed, the two purchases would mean that Hadjiyiannis, a founding member and current president of the Cyprus Union of Shipowners, has increased the number of ships under his tanker fleet by more than a third within the last eight months.
The tally spans three VLCCs, two panamaxes and one long-range 2 product tanker. The owner spent just about $100m in the process.
