The British financial investor Tufton, which is also involved in the German shipping industry, is losing its Chief Investment Officer Paulo Almeida.
Paulo Almeida has informed the board that he will step down as CIO of Tufton with immediate effect and leave the company at the beginning of 2024, Tufton has now confirmed.
“After a significant number of investments, capital raisings, divestitures, mergers and acquisitions and the IPOs of Hafnia, Tufton Oceanic Assets, Gram Carriers and Stainless Tankers over the past 10+ years, Paulo wishes to spend more time with his family and pursue avocational interests such as private investments and community service,” a statement reads.
Almeida has been a well-known face in the shipping industry for years, organizing various ship deals and transactions – including in the German fleet – and was most recently promoted to his current position as part of a restructuring of the company.
Almeida remains a “significant” Tufton shareholder
Almeida himself now said: “We have made some excellent exits; our current portfolios are strong and mature and I want to proactively make room for the strong next generation of investment professionals.” However, he wants to remain “a significant shareholder” in Tufton Oceanic Assets and Stainless Tankers ASA. Almeida has been with Tufton for more than 14 years.
CEO Andrew Hampson emphasized the “essential role” of the CIO in making Tufton the “leading fund manager in the maritime industry”. Nicolas Tirogalas has been appointed as successor to the CIO. He reportedly has more than 25 years of experience in public and private markets across a wide range of industries and sectors.
For the last 15 years, he has focused on the shipping and offshore industries. More recently, he has acted in an advisory capacity to North American and European financial institutions and investment managers on their maritime investments, it says. He was previously Managing Director of TMS Cardiff Gas, where he had overall responsibility for the company’s activities and oversaw its growth from inception until his departure in 2016.
Prior to that he was EVP Commercial and Finance at TMS Group where he evaluated and oversaw investments and completed several capital raisings (debt and equity) across most traditional maritime segments including drybulk, tanker, container, LNG, LPG and offshore.
Andrew Hampson said: “I am very much looking forward to working with him to continue the business expansion and development that Paulo and I have built together over the last ten years and I am confident that he will be a great asset to the future success of the business.”
