Greek LPG carrier specialist StealthGas decided against offloading its four product tankers in a weak market before forming a spin-off company for them.

The non-core vessels now make up the fleet of Imperial Petroleum, which launched on the Nasdaq this week.

On a conference call, chief executive Harry Vafias was asked by Jefferies analyst Randy Giveans why the quartet was not simply sold and the money ploughed into debt reduction and share buybacks.