Premuda and Columbia Shipmanagement form joint venture
The Italian ship-owning Group Premuda, controlled by Pillarstone, the industrial and financial platform that supports the relaunch of companies in temporary difficulty, has laid the basis for the constitution of a joint venture with Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM). CSM is an international blue chip organization with over 40 years of experience as world-class ship management and maritime services provider within the shipping industry, the company said in its release.
Thanks to the JV, CSM, one of the world leaders in the sector, will enter the Italian market and will take care of the full management of the entire Premuda fleet, currently consisting of 28 ships under the control of the Genoese company and Finav, the Fund for credit management in the shipping sector established by Davy Global Fund Management, with the support of Pillarstone Italy. Premuda will be a shareholder of the new company, which will be called CSM Italy and will be based in Genoa.
Within the framework outlined, once concluded the due trade-unions consultation’s procedures, CSM Italy will provide ship management and it’s maritime services.
Other than Premuda fleet management, CSM Italy will offer, from the beginning, the CSM Group full range of management and maritime services to the entire Italian maritime cluster. The share capital of CSM Italy will be potentially open to other participants – Italian owners and operators – willing to join the spirit of such an initiative.
The implementation of this new partnership with CSM will allow Premuda to obtain an even more efficient and flexible fleet management, which is more and more necessary in the current competitive market, and to continue its business model transformation and its activity expansion, undertaken at the beginning of 2019 with the full support of the shareholder.
Founded more than a century ago, since 2016 Premuda has been controlled by Pillarstone Italy, the turnaround platform sponsored by the private equity fund KKR. In the last two years, the company has completed a significant renewal of the management team and relaunched the “Premuda brand” in the international market. With this goal, the Company has started an articulated rationalization, increase and diversification of the fleet and a progressive transformation of the business model. By maintaining its headquarters in Genoa, Premuda is today an international company increasingly focused on the global market.
Columbia Shipmanagement is one of the largest privately-owned international shipmanagers with offices in Cyprus, Singapore, Germany, China (Shanghai), and recently opened offices in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) and Greece (Athens). Set up over 41 years ago by its Chairman Heinrich Schoeller, it provides tailored, performance optimised services to its international clients in all of the maritime sectors, as well as catering management, procurement, logistics, waste disposal, green recycling, superyacht management, cruise management, offshore and energy, its Performance Optimisation Control Room.