Castor Maritime Inc., owned by Petros Panagiotidis, is strengthening its presence in the container shipping and energy infrastructure sectors.
Castor Maritime has entered into an agreement with MPC Holding to acquire 74.09% of the shares of Frankfurt-listed investment and asset management company MPC Munchmeyer Petersen Capital AG.
According to the announcement, the acquisition of 26,116,378 shares from the Nasdaq-listed company was agreed at a price of 7 euros per share, which equals a total cost of 182.8 million euros payable in cash. An amount corresponding to approximately 192.6 million dollars, excluding any expenses related to the transaction.
As part of the transaction, Castor secured a long-term loan of 100 million dollars, as well as proceeds of 50 million dollars from the issuance of 50,000 additional convertible preferred shares of Series D, both from Nasdaq-listed Toro Corp. which is also controlled by Petros Panagiotidis, Castor’s chairman and CEO.
Strategic investment
On the occasion of the deal, which is expected to be completed in December, Panagiotidis stated that “Castor announces a strategic investment with the acquisition of a majority stake in MPC Capital.
This transaction demonstrates our commitment to further develop our footprint in shipping, but also to diversify our activities in the rapidly growing energy infrastructure sector.”
In this context, he added that “Castor as the new major shareholder of MPC Capital aligns with its strategy, aiming for continuous growth and leveraging its history as an investment manager and operator within shipping and energy.”
