Aiming to draw clients and business, the biggest yard in the Middle East has come out in support of a Cyprus-based maritime fund.

International Maritime Industries (IMI), a new Saudi yard backed by oil giant Saudi Aramco, VLCC owner Bahri, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, said it was endorsing the freshly launched Global Maritime Fund.

The GMF is to be managed by Pelagic Partners, a shipping investment outfit set up in Cyprus two years ago by Niels Hartmann and partner Atef Abou Merhi.