Greek shipowner Evangelos Pistiolis is taking a plunge into the offshore market that could see family-owned Central Shipping Monaco spend close to $1.5bn.
Pistiolis, better known as head of Nasdaq-listed Top Ships, has placed firm orders for two jack-up drilling rigs at specialised Chinese builder Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore (CIMC Raffles) at a cost of approximately $240m each. He holds options for a further four rigs, the first of which must be declared in around six months’ time, while all four must be declared within 18 months.
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