Il shipping sector saw ups and downs during 2021, with the pandemic facilitating some sectors and penalizing others. The platform Pillarstone, one of the most active in the shipping in Italy, taking advantage of the good performance of the dry segment, well above the averages of the last decade, has decided to focus on development.
The Pillarstone shipping platform includes the Premuda groups (historic Italian shipowner since 1907) and FINAV, a sectoral fund worth over 500 million euros which holds loans in Preseveranza di Navigazione, Fertilia, Finaval, Michele Bottiglieri Armatore, Motia, Morfini, Mednav, Lavant, PB Tankers and Navigation Cabotage.
Pillarston has dedicated the last three years to the reorganization of the group. “In the last period,” explains Marco Fiori, CEO of Premuda and Chairman of FINAV Holding “we have built together with our stakeholders a business plan very articulated, which has a dual objective: on the one hand the renewal of the fleet and on the other a decisive repositioning of Premuda and FINAV, industrially already consolidated, in the eco-tanker sector.”
The group went from 12 ships in 2018 to the current 31. “Of these, seven are dry bulk carriers and twenty-four tankers” specifies the CEO of Pillarstone Italy Gaudenzio Bonaldo Gregori, “two of which – newly built super-eco tankers - will be taken over during 2022”.
On the other hand, "we are selling a certain number of non-strategic vessels" adds Fiori, an operation which will trigger "a program of new investments across the platform for a value exceeding i 250 million dollars” with the aim of buying up to seven eco and super-eco tankers in two years. "We strongly believe in our project," continues the manager, "and we believe that the renewal of the fleet is the only possible way to prepare Premuda-FINAV for an extraordinary operation"
Through the traditional banking channel, already in 2021 the FINAV Group concluded a first operation with BPER Banca for the partial refinancing of an oil tanker and is now about to launch a new operation for about 50 million dollars, explains Enrico Barbieri, CEO of FINAV Holding and CFO of Premuda
Also, after resorting to operations of sell and lease back in the past years, “now we have already identified a further $35 million ticket on three vessels, which we plan to ground in Q2022 XNUMX, in support of ours capex plan” says Roberto Rondelli, partner of Pillarstone Italy”.
With 2021 the debt restructuring of Premuda with which 45 million dollars were returned in advance to the banks, which in exchange entered the capital of the company. As a result of the new financial maneuver the bank debt of the Genoese shipping company drops to about 44 million dollars.
Pillarstone in 2021 expects to close on an aggregate level with revenues of 104,2 million ed EBITDA of 41,2 million euros (40%). In 2017 revenues amounted to 43,5 million with an EBITDA of 7,3 million (17%)
