A new Turkish owner has quietly amassed a fleet of six internationally trading MR and LR product tankers and is still looking to grow, with a target of acquiring at least three or four more ships within a year.
Most recently, Oslo-based asset player Atlantica Shipping was reported earlier in May to have sold the 51,246-dwt Atlantica Brave (built 2008) to an undisclosed Turkish owner.
Prive Overseas Marine was in the process of taking delivery this week. A source familiar with the deal said the MR2 tanker will be renamed Prive Angel, but was unauthorised to comment on the price.
Prive Overseas is headed by chairman Ata Aksoy and takes its name from Aksoy’s other operations in such fields as insurance and health care. His group is separate from the other Aksoy family behind bulker owner Aksoy Denizcilik.
To run its London commercial operations, Prive Overseas has brought in tanker industry veteran Erik Augustsson, a veteran of Chevron, Texaco and Stena Bulk, who spent six years with Sovcomflot before it had to close down its London office last year.
Prive Overseas started its current tanker-buying campaign with the March 2021 purchase of the last two MR vessels in the former fleet of Parakou Tankers, the 51,200-dwt PTI Hercules and PTI Orion (renamed PS Dream and PS Queen, both built 2006).
That transaction was done through a vehicle organised by Japanese financial owner Ocean Trust. VesselsValue pegs the ships’ worth at some $21.36m and $21.48m. The price of the 2021 deal was undisclosed but given the timing, the ships could be expected to have gone for around $9m less.
In March 2022, the Turkish owner acquired its third ship directly, the smaller 40,200-dwt PS Pelican (ex-Paragon 11, built 2007) from Singapore’s Ocean Oil Marine for a reported $9m.
Since then, the company has increased its pace of acquisitions, picking up two LR1 ships, the 72,800-dwt PS Falcon (ex-PGC Icaros, built 2004) in November 2022 from Greece’s Paradise Gas Carriers for a reported $12.7m, the 63,500-dwt Prive Eagle (ex-Aurora N, built 2008) in January from Navios Maritime Acquisition for $23m, and now the Prive Angel.