Libra Group, a family business which is active in six sectors including maritime, with Manos Kouligkas as the CEO and George M. Logothetis as the Executive Chairman of the company, has secured through its subsidiary Lomar Shipping, a ship-owning and management group with a diversified mixed-sector fleet, a $27.5 million credit facility from Macquarie Group, to refinance two vessels in its diverse fleet.
The New York-based Libra Group partners with Macquarie, a global financial leader with a solid maritime industry expertise, for the refinancing of the two ships, and this is the second transaction concluded with Macquarie, as the company informs.
The refinanced vessels, the London Trader and the Madrid Trader, are 2019-built, ECO containerships, each with a capacity of 1762 TEUs. The vessels are part of Lomar’s $1-billion newbuilding investment program of more than 40 vessels placed over a decade ago, the last of which was delivered in 2021.
It is worth mentioning that Lomar Shipping, in an attempt to further diversify and grow its fleet portfolio has acquired the Bremen, Germany-based, Carl Büttner Holding (CB). The acquisition of the 166-year-old shipowner and manager, known for its technical management expertise, is Lomar’s most recent step to expand its fleet.
Lomar entered into preliminary discussions with CB in the fourth quarter of 2021, and the final agreement between the groups was reached in early 2022. After obtaining final regulatory approvals, the transaction closed at an enterprise value of close to $160 million, in accordance with Libra´s Group statement.
In 2017, the long-time managing director of the CB Group, Thorsten Mackenthun, launched the most extensive newbuilding program in the company’s history, which was successfully implemented with the delivery of four ECO/fuel-efficient handy size chemical/oil-product tankers in 2019 and 2020, advancing the company, despite the challenging market environment caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
He has decided to retire following the successful acquisition, noting that “after more than 42 years in shipping, this result is a wonderful conclusion, and it is time to pass the wheel into younger hands.”
