19.10.2009 - HCI SHIPPING OPPORTUNITY
New fund for countercyclical investments in the shipping market
Jointly with HCI Capital AG and Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, the HAMMONIA Reederei GmbH & Co. KG sponsors the “HCI Shipping Opportunity” fund. This fund is designed to benefit from the current shipping market situation. It targets to acquire vessels at favourable conditions to realize extraordinary profit opportunities. HCI Capital AG will raise the fund’s equity, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG will be the exclusive charterbroker of the vessels, and HAMMONIA Reederei will evaluate and execute investment opportunities and later on manage the respective vessels.
The financial crisis and the worldwide economic slump led to a decrease in demand for transport capacity. As a result the current charter rates of most types of vessels and vessel sizes are faced with a steep downward trend. Due to a high overcapacity and a large orderbook, low rates will sustain for some more time, depending on vessel type and size. In this market environment the prices for second-hand vessels will drop eventually.
The investment idea of HCI Shipping Opportunity is to buy vessels in this depressed market situation and operate them until the market has recovered. Mid- and long term prospects for the shipping market are promising, because there are no signs that world growth and the forces of globalisation will not persist in the future. Based on this idea the fund will provide the opportunity to realize capital gains on the purchased vessels. HAMMONIA Reederei and its partners have the experience and expertise to pinpoint the right moments in the market cycle, to keep up with investor’s profit expectations.
The fund is designed as a blind pool, consequently the investment objects are not fixed yet. The vessel purchases are to be made by the middle of 2010. The fund is unrestricted in its investment decisions concerning vessel specifications like quantity, type and size. But to ensure a responsible handling of investors’ money the investment decisions are bound to investment guidelines. That is vessels cannot be purchased from Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG or HCI Capital AG and their affiliates. Additionally the respective vessels must not be older than 15 years and must sail under the German tonnage tax regime.
To assure compliance with the investment guidelines a competent advisory board has been set up to monitor the (dis-)investment decisions of the fund. This board has to approve any investment proposals prior to actually executing a sale or purchase transaction. The advisory board of HCI Shipping Opportunity consists of three members: Jochen-Thomas Döhle, involved in the shipping business for more than twenty years and who is currently leading spokesman of the executive board of the Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG. Dr. Klaus Meves, who has been employed with Reederei Hamburg Süd since 1970 and at last was appointed spokesman of the executive board for several years. Dr. Stefan Rindfleisch, who is partner of Ehlermann Rindfleisch Gadow, a law firm specialized in maritime financing.
Parallel to the period of fund raising for the HCI Shipping Opportunity fund, HAMMONIA Reederei is in negotiation with long time partners in USA, Europe and South America. The aim is to raise further equity from institutional investors. Together with the raised capital from HCI Shipping Opportunity the investment portfolio volume can be increased and the risks can be diversified through multiple investments.
