Connecticut’s Chembulk Tankers will once again become an independent, private equity-controlled tanker owner if a recent deal to spin-off most of Berlian Laju Tanker (BLT)’s fleet is cemented — as planned — this summer.
BLT, the Indonesian shipowner that purchased Chembulk out of private-equity hands in 2007, has struck a debt-for-equity deal with a consortium of lenders controlled by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and York Capital Management that will transfer 23 chemical tanker and four LPG carriers to a new Chembulk outfit.
