State-owned German KfW Ipex-Bank has acquired a new customer with the listed shipping company Precious Shipping. Financing is being provided as part of a newbuilding order.
After a financing for the Singapore-based shipping company X-Press Feeders was made public just a few days ago, a transaction for a customer from Thailand is now following. “We are delighted to conclude our first contract with our new client,” Sebastian Blum, Head of Maritime Industries at KfW IPEX-Bank, is quoted as saying in a post by the bank on Social Media.
Reedere Precious Shipping, which was founded in 1989 and went public in Thailand in 1993, has ordered two bulkers of 63,500 tdw each to modernize its fleet. The ships will be built by Taizhou Sanfu in China. According to KfW, they will be equipped “to a large extent” with European equipment, which is why financing via the bank is also possible. The newbuildings are to be delivered at the end of this year. As part of the transaction now published, KfW IPEX-Bank is granting a loan of $50 million to finance the construction costs.
The Thai company currently operates a fleet of 41 vessels, including 17 Handysize bulkers, 6 Supramax and 13 Ultramax vessels, 4 cement carriers and one tanker.
