Following the sale of Gram Car Carriers to MSC, the Hamburg-based shipping company Laeisz has become a shareholder in the Greek shipping company Diana Shipping.
According to a stock exchange announcement, Reederei F. Laeisz, managed by Nikolaus H. Schües, has acquired a block of shares and now holds a 5% stake in the company.
Diana Shipping, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is active in the dry bulk sector and currently operates a fleet of 38 bulk carriers. It has also ordered two newbuildings that will be methanol-ready.
Laeisz buys into bulker fleet
The ships are spread across several segments – Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post-Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax and Ultramax. The carrying capacity of the fleet is 4.4 million dwt with an average age of 11 years.
“We consider the company to be significantly undervalued and therefore an interesting investment,” says Laeisz CEO Schües. A total of almost 6.31 million shares were purchased in New York. This stake is worth around US$14m at the last quoted share price of US$2.23. “That is only about half of the asset value,” says Schües.
Laeisz boss Schües is counting on positive market development
In his opinion, the bulker segment promises stable development in the medium term, including for second-hand tonnage. However, as a passive shareholder, the company will not exert any influence on the management and strategy of the Greek shipping company, he emphasises.
The Hamburg-based shipping company, which celebrated its 200th anniversary this year – fittingly in Hamburg’s Laeisz-Halle – was the largest single shareholder in Gram Car Carriers until a few months ago. MSC then took over the Norwegian car carrier shipping company for US$700m. However, Laeisz is still active in this segment with four of its own ships and a further four newbuilds on order, which will be delivered in 2025/26.
Laeisz opens up new market segment
The dry bulk sector is not completely new to the shipping company. Until the 2000s, bulkers were also part of the fleet, such as the ore carrier “Peene Ore”, which was the largest merchant ship under the German flag at the time.
Today, the traditional company, which became famous for its Flying-P-Liners in the saltpetre trade, operates a fleet of ten carriers (plus four newbuildings), seven gas tankers and four container ships, although the latter is no longer part of its core business. The company also manages six research vessels, including the AWI icebreaker “Polarstern” and the Fassmer-built “Uthörn”. The fleet also includes ten river cruise ships.
In addition to its own bulker activities, Diana Shipping founded the shipping company Windward Offshore together with the German companies SeaRenergy Offshore, Blue Star Group and SeraVerse, which intends to build and operate a fleet of CSOVs (Commissioning Service Operation Vessels).
