Taylor Maritime agrees final owned bulker sale ahead of London exit

London-listed Taylor Maritime has agreed to sell its last owned bulk carrier for $15.1m, taking its fleet disposal programme to 56 vessels and putting total proceeds on course to reach almost $933m.

The Ed Buttery-led company said the final sale is expected to complete in December, bringing to an end a three-year selling campaign that has steadily dismantled one of the largest geared dry bulk fleets in the market.

Since the beginning of 2023, Taylor Maritime has executed 55 vessel disposals with expected gross proceeds of $917.7m, at an average discount of 3.5% to fair market value. The latest agreement will lift the total to approximately $932.8m once completed.

The move follows the completion of three handysize disposals announced earlier this month, which generated $48.6m. Those deals included transactions involving Buttery’s privately controlled T3 Holding vehicle, which acquired one vessel outright and a majority stake in a company holding another two handysizes alongside Hermes World Maritime.

While the latest agreement covers Taylor Maritime’s last owned ship, one vessel remains on charter under a sale-and-leaseback arrangement with a purchase option. That contract expires in April 2027, and the company is assessing the most efficient way to exit the arrangement.

Taylor Maritime expects to cease all commercial shipping operations by the end of 2026, with the wind-down now moving towards its final shareholder distributions.

The company has confirmed a fourth compulsory capital return of $45m in November, taking the amount returned to investors since January to $263.4m. A further redemption is expected to be announced in December, subject to completion of the remaining vessel sale.

The board then intends to put forward plans to cancel the company’s London listing.

Taylor Maritime, which floated in May 2021, built its fleet to more than 50 vessels following the takeover of Grindrod Shipping before reversing course and embarking on an extensive asset disposal programme.

The company formally adopted a managed realisation strategy in March this year, prioritising vessel sales and the return of capital to shareholders over continued fleet operations.

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