Carlyle Forms Venture to Buy $5 Billion in Shipping Assets in China Focus
Investor Gerry Wang
Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg
Investor Gerry Wang said, “There is increasing desire among Chinese state-owned entities to control the ships that transport their goods around the world.”
Investor Gerry Wang said, “There is increasing desire among Chinese state-owned entities to control the ships that transport their goods around the world.” Photographer: Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg
The Carlyle Group, the world’s second-biggest private equity fund, said it’s forming a venture to buy more than $5 billion in container, dry bulk, and tanker vessels as well as other shipping assets.
The venture, led by investors Gerry Wang and Graham Porter, will deploy $900 million in equity capital over the next five years, the Carlyle Group said today in a statement. It will focus on Chinese state-backed shipbuilders, lenders and shipping companies, it said.
“There is increasing desire among Chinese state-owned entities to control the ships that transport their goods around the world,” Wang said in the statement.
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs, has advanced 50 percent to 1,562 points since reaching its 2011-low on Feb. 4. Container shipping costs as measured by the Hamburg Shipbrokers’ Association have gained 23 percent to 685 points so far this year.
The venture has been formed by Carlyle, Tiger Group Investments, Seaspan Corp. (SSW), the Washington Family, Gerry Wang and Graham Porter, Carlyle said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at anightingal1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net
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