Tufton adds another ship to portfolio as core management team ups its stake in the manager.
Tufton Oceanic Assets has acquired a containership for $6.75m. This takes its fleet to 19 vessels. The vessel has a fixed rate time charter of at least three years to a major container line which is investment grade. It is fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber. The yield during the charter exceeds the company’s targets. On top of this, the fuel cost savings produced by the scrubber increases the yield greatly.
Separately, Tufton Investment Management Limited says that a new financial partner (an unnamed European family office) has acquired shares from a number of Tufton’s long standing financial shareholders. The transaction has enabled the management team, led by Andrew Hampson (CEO) and Paulo Almeida (CIO), to acquire a substantially increased stake in the business. In addition, the new partner plans to support the growth prospects of the business by investing in future funds and investments managed or arranged by Tufton, including future capital raises by the trust.
The board says that it is reassured that there will be no changes to the team and that service levels will be uninterrupted by the transaction. It sees as a positive that Tufton will remain independently managed and will operate under its current brand whilst the management team will have a substantially increased stake in the business.
Tufton manages $1.1bn in shipping assets across a number of funds including Tufton Oceanic Assets which, as of 30 September 2020, had an NAV of $243m.
Tufton’s founder Ted Kalborg says that he has been asked to stay involved with the business for at least the next few years.