US largest publicly-listed shipping company is born

Dry cargo vessel owner and operator Navios Maritime Partners has completed the acquisition of tanker owner Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation after securing unitholder approvals.

As Offshore Energy previously reported, the merger creates the largest U.S. publicly-listed shipping company, with over 140 vessels aggregating approximately 15 million deadweight tons operating in three segments through 15 different vessel types and serving more than 10 end markets. 

“We are pleased with this transformative transaction through which we created the largest U.S. publicly-listed shipping company with 15 vessel types diversified across three segments, servicing more than 10 end markets,” Angeliki Frangou, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer, commented.

“About one-third of our fleet will be in each of the dry bulk, containership and tanker segment. We believe that this combination should result in a stronger, more resilient entity, mitigating sector specific cyclicality, and enabling us to capitalize on opportunities throughout the industry and provide even returns to our stakeholders across cycles.”

In the merger, each outstanding common share of Navios Acquisition (other than shares held by Navios Partners) was exchanged for 0.1275 of a common unit of Navios Partners, with Navios Partners issuing a total of approximately 3.4 million common units to the Navios Acquisition shareholders in the transaction.

As a result of the merger, Navios Acquisition’s common shares were no longer listed for trading on NYSE.

Also this year, Navios Partners completed the acquisition of container shipping company Navios Maritime Containers, with the latter surviving as a subsidiary of Navios Partners.