JP Morgan drives Greenship asset play forward
US firm sells down ultramax quintet it bought cheaply in 2017
US investment house JP Morgan has secured a $3.2m profit by flipping yet another ultramax it acquired in a bank-driven sale early last year.
Greek and international brokers report JP Morgan has sold the 63,500-dwt Sage Baylorcom (built 2015) to Greece’s JME Navigation for just under $23m.
Managers at Harry Hazapis-led JME Navigation did not respond to a request for comment by the time TradeWinds went to press. JP Morgan also did not respond.
JP Morgan bought the Sage Baylorcom back in April 2017 for about $19.7m. The ship was trading as the JS Columbia then and was the youngest in a quintet of ultramaxes that the US investor bought from Greenship Bulk.
JP Morgan is estimated to have spent about $86m on the five ships, all built at Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding, and is now beginning to recoup that money at a considerable profit.
In June, brokers said that Greece’s Blue Planet Shipping picked up the 63,500-dwt Sage Amazon (ex-JS Amazon, built 2012) and the Sage Colorado (ex-JS Colorado, built 2012) for $19.5m each — $3.5m more than JP Morgan is believed to have spent on each one of them a year earlier.
Only one transaction confirmed
However, only one of these transactions has been confirmed — that of the Sage Colorado, which is now trading with Blue Planet as the Achilleas.
The other two former Greenship Bulk ships JP Morgan bought are still in the US firm's fleet. They are the 63,500-dwt Sage Sanaga (ex-JS Sanaga, built 2013) and the 63,500-dwt Sage Danube (ex-JS Danube, built 2012).
The purchase of the Sage Baylorcom would make it JME Navigation’s its fourth ship on the water. A deal would also confirm Yangzhou Dayang as JME Navigation’s favoured yard.
The Athens-based company has another two bulkers trading in its fleet since they were new and from the same yard. Those are the 63,500-dwt Zoitsa Sigala (built 2014) and the 58,100-dwt Marigoula (built 2013).
JME Navigation’s most recent purchase on the secondhand market took place in April 2017, when it acquired the 34,700-dwt bulker Intrepid Harvester (built 2012) for about $9.8m. The Nantong Jinghua-built handysize, which was renamed Mother M, was JME Navigation’s first acquisition in nearly five years.
In early 2016, the Zoitsa Sigala and the Intrepid Harvester had been lay-up candidates.
