MC-Seamax closes maiden shipping fund at $300m
MC-Seamax Managagement, the US-based GP backed by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, has reached a $300 million close on its maiden fund intended to take advantage of depressed prices in the global shipping industry.
The close is less than half of the $750 million the GP had been looking to raise when is announced the fund in 2013. Commitments came from institutional investors across North America, Asia and Europe. It was previously reported that Mitsubishi committed $50 million to the fund and provided a $50 million debt warehouse facility while the fund was raising capital.
MC-Seamax was set up in 2012 as a joint venture between Seamax Partners and Mitsubishi unit MC Asset Management. The fund will focus on investing in container shipping and offering outsourcing alternatives to vessel ownership by providing term leases on large, modern container vessels.
The fund already has a portfolio of six post-Panamax container vessels with a total carrying capacity of over 45,000 twenty-food equivalent units (TEU), which operate under medium-term leases to leading liner companies. MC-Seamax added that its fleet is being deployed in the main global trade lanes with leading shipping lines and is secured by multi-year charter contracts that generate stable earnings.
According to a release, the fund sources deals directly from shipping lines, ship owners and shipyards, and from institutional investors. Much of this deal flow is being driven by a scarcity of traditional sources of capital, as well as changes in regulatory, tax and accounting rules impacting traditional equity providers.
The fund was previously said to offer a higher preferred return hurdle of 12% to investors who committed before a first close. After that the preferred return is 10%. The fund charges a 1.25% management fee on committed capital and 20% carried interest.
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