A legal brawl may be shaping up over General Maritime Corp (Genmar)’s loss of the Maersk VLCC-fleet deal to rival Euronav, with the company’s founder, Peter Georgiopoulos, reportedly furious over the defection of a key private-equity backer.

Several sources tell TradeWinds that Georgiopoulos is threatening legal action against New York private-equity firm York Capital Management on the premise that York allegedly supported the $1bn deal on Genmar’s behalf but later took it to Euronav.



COMPLICATED PICTURE

The picture may be complicated, however, as TradeWinds understands that York was not the only private investor to ditch Genmar’s bid for the ultimately successful Euronav challenge.

Both BlueMountain Capital and Avenue Capital Group also became backers of Euronav’s bid, sources tell TradeWinds.

Unlike York, those firms have not been publicly identified by Euronav as supporters. But the sources who identify them say BlueMountain owns 10% of Genmar and holds a seat on its board, while Avenue originally was a lead supporter of Genmar’s Maersk bid.

Attempts to reach Genmar were not successful at press time. A York spokeswoman declined comment.

As TradeWinds has reported since August, Genmar had been lining up financial support for what would have been a bold comeback in the tanker market: the purchase of Maersk’s fleet of 15 modern VLCCs for a sum now understood to be $950m.

However, TradeWinds revealed on 30 December — one day before Genmar’s exclusivity pact with Maersk was due to expire — that Euronav had emerged as the likely buyer, with trading of the Belgian company’s shares suspended pending an announcement.

Euronav’s confirmation of the $980m deal came earlier this week.

It was a triumph for the Europeans and a crushing blow for Genmar and Georgiopoulos, who did not take it calmly, several sources say.

“Peter is livid — I heard him from where I’m sitting, and it wasn’t over the telephone,” said one source located far from Genmar’s New York home.

Euronav boss Paddy Rodgers told TradeWinds on Monday that his company had been working on the deal for only three weeks and cancelled holiday leave to get it done.



GENMAR RAN OUT OF TIME

How Genmar lost the deal and Euronav won it remains somewhat murky but it appears the New York owner could not quite get its equity backing together by the 31 December deadline.

If backers like York, BlueMountain and Avenue were defectors, it helps explain why it took more time. York has been associated with Euronav since at least early December, when it and GoldenTree Asset Management were lead investors in a $150m preferred-equity fundraiser.

Michael Kirk of RMK Maritime, which advised Euronav both in the equity raise and the Maersk deal, said the Belgian company’s strong balance sheet and operating platform through the Tankers International (TI) pool were strong attractions both to Maersk and investors.

“They are in a pretty good position from a balance-sheet perspective — more so than other companies out there,” Kirk said.

“The $150m equity infusion helped them go out and get commercial bank debt. That’s an advantage in total cost of capital.

“It also made them a very attractive partner for the equity guys to come in and support. The challenge was working over the holidays in a very truncated time period. A lot of people gave up their time on the slopes or at the beach — not just [Euronav] but the investors, too.”