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(Bloomberg) — South Korean shipping companies SK Shipping Co. and H-Line Shipping Co. — both owned by private equity firm Hahn & Co. — will swap tankers and contracts to create one of the world's largest operators of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
SK Shipping will receive 16 LNG vessels and their long-term contracts from H-Line in exchange for 12 tankers, their contracts and approximately $300 million in cash, the buyout firm said in a statement on Thursday.
The deal will turn SK into what Hahn & Co. described as the world's third-largest operator of LNG carriers, while H-Line will become a leading tanker and bulk-shipping company in the region.
The swap, part of a years-long effort to reshape Korean shipping, also comes as months of conflict in the Persian Gulf upend the energy trade and create lucrative opportunities for shipowners, charterers and traders.
A large, consolidated fleet backed by long-term contracts can offer relatively predictable cash flows in an industry otherwise buffeted by sharp swings in freight rates. The swap will allow H-Line to benefit from "increased scale, operating efficiencies, and capital" at a time of geopolitical uncertainty, Hahn & Co. said.
Hahn & Co. created H-Line in 2014 by acquiring Hanjin Shipping Co.'s long-term dry-bulk operations. It added Hyundai Merchant Marine Co.'s long-term dry-bulk business in 2016.
Hahn & Co. then acquired about 80% of SK Shipping from SK Group in 2018 and shifted the company away from speculative spot-market operations toward vessels backed by secured, long-term contracts.
