Greek shipping businessman George Economou has made a move on another shipowner Genco Shipping to buy shares.
A stock market filing last Friday revealed that Economou has taken a 5.4% stake in Genco Shipping & Trading, a U.S. headquartered dry bulk shipowner.
It is another company since the summer to draw the Greek shipping magnate’s interest.
George Economou turns his attention to Genco after the recent move he made on compatriot shipowner Seanergy Maritime to buy shares.
Greek shipowner and investor Economou quietly built a small stake in a different, New York-listed company.
All reported common shares are held by GK Investor LLC, which is a controlled affiliate of each of Sphinx Investment and Maryport Navigation Corp.
Sphinx Investment Corp. is a controlled affiliate of Maryport Navigation Corp. controlled by George Economou.
GK Investor purchased the 2,313,572 common shares reported for a total purchase price of $33,941,176 including fees and expenses.
A regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission says, “the reporting persons each may be deemed to beneficially own all of the 2,313,572 common shares, which represent approximately 5.4% of Issuer’s outstanding common shares.”
As Shipping Telegraph reported in December, Economou’s Sphinx purchased 1,119,972 common shares for a total purchase price of $6,286,161 in Nasdaq-listed Seanergy Maritime headquartered in Greece, corresponding to a 5.7% stake in the Stamatis Tsantanis-led company.
The Greek businessman, having already a major stake in tanker owner Performance Shipping, has launched a tender offer to purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares.
However, Performance Shipping said in a regulatory filing that “the special committee believes that the offer is illusory, because the highly conditional nature of the offer creates significant doubt that the offer will be consummated.”
Economou has also made another move in OceanPal Inc, a shipowner of five dry bulk vessels (three panamax and two capesize), by taking common shares, as reported at the end of September last year by Shipping Telegraph.
The fleet of OceanPal is managed by both Diana Wilhelmsen Management Limited and Steamship Shipbroking Enterprises Inc, whilst OceanPal is led by Semiramis Paliou.
