Carlyle exits Asia containership joint venture

Seaspan, which held an 11% stake in GCI prior to the transaction, now owns the entire company, having bought out the other minority shareholders along with Carlyle. According to a statement Seaspan paid around $380 million for GCI, including $330 million in cash and $50 million in Seaspan stock. The company cited an implied enterprise value for GCI of about $1.6 billion.

GCI was created in 2011 by Carlyle – investing from both its Carlyle Asia Partners III and Carlyle Partners V funds – along with Tiger Group Investments, Seaspan, and the Washington family. The venture was intended to capitalize on the desire of Chinese state-owned enterprises to control the ships that transport their goods.

Currently GCI’s fleet comprises 18 modern containerships with a total capacity of 204,000 20-foot container units (TEUs) 16 are already in service, while the remaining two are scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2018. Seaspan has been involved in the design, construction, and operation of all 18 ships, which operate as sister ships to its own fleet. The acquisition of GCI brings Seaspan’s total fleet to 112 ships with 905,900 TEUs.

“With GCI’s fleet now under our ownership, we are strengthening our partnerships with customers and enhancing our scalable integrated platform for sustained growth and future consolidation,” said Bing Chen, president and CEO of Seaspan. “As the container shipping industry is beginning to show signs of a recovery, we are taking decisive actions to capitalize on compelling opportunities in our market."

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Trade sale
• Industrials
• China
• The Carlyle Group
• Exit
• manufacturing
• Logistics