BW Group goes on tanker buying binge

Andreas Sohmen-Pao

MAY 20, 2014 — BW Group, which has a fleet of 113 owned, part-owned or controlled vessels in the tanker, gas and offshore segments, is on a buying binge.

Today it signed a purchase agreement to acquire ten chemical tankers consisting of— two ships built in 2008 and 2010 and eight newbuildings to be delivered between 2015 and 2018 — from Stream Tankers.

The two existing chemical tankers are from Japanese shipyards Fukuoka Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and Shitanoe Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. The newbuildings are being built at the same shipyards and will be equipped with eco-design hulls and fuel efficient engines.

Andreas Sohmen-Pao, CEO BW Group, says: “Stream Tankers has a fleet of quality vessels and newbuildings and BW is pleased to be acquiring this fleet. With this purchase, we will be able to strengthen our service offering in the chemical tanker segment.”

BW intends to manage the ships commercially through the WOMAR pool system.

The announcement of the deal to buy the Stream chemical tankers comes one day after BW Group announced it had formed a joint venture with private equity firm PAG (formerly known as Pacific Alliance Group) called BW Pacific. The JV is purchasing ten modern Medium Range product tankers from Elandra Pte Ltd, a company associated with Vitol Energy (Bermuda) Ltd.

“BW is pleased to form a joint venture with one of Asia’s leading investment managers and to have PAG as a partner as we expand in the product tanker segment,” said Mr. Sohmen-Pao

Chris Gradel, Founder & Managing Partner of PAG commented: “PAG is delighted to have such a blue chip partner in shipping like the BW Group. This is a very interesting time in the cycle for the industry and our joint venture with BW presents our investors with a unique opportunity to capture the potential upside in a recovery while relying on the operational excellence of a true industry leader.”

BW Pacific will have a fleet size of 37 Medium Range and Long Range 1 product tankers and will be managed by the BW Group.