CPLP tanker activity to be merged with DSS

Capital Product Partners LP (CPLP), controlled by Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, and Diamond S Shipping (DSS), whose main stakeholder is the WL Ross & Co private investment fund founded in 2000 by US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross, announced on Wednesday they have reached a merger deal for a new entity whose value is estimated at $1.65 billion.

The agreement provides for CPLP to spin off its tanker activities, contributing 25 vessels to the creation of a new listed company that will merge with the activities of DSS. The merger will result in one of the biggest listed tanker companies in the world, to be named Diamond S Shipping Inc, based in Greenwich, Connecticut and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal will be implemented through a share swap. CPLP's shareholders will control 33 percent of the new entity, with 67 percent controlled by the DSS...