A UK-authorised shipping investment company, Allocean Maritime Investments, has launched what it believes is the first direct commercial shipping assets investment within the UK legal and regulatory framework.

A UK-authorised shipping investment company, Allocean Maritime Investments, has launched what it believes is the first direct commercial shipping assets investment within the UK legal and regulatory framework.

The investment is aimed at sophisticated, high net worth and professional investors, aiming to produce a return of more than 7 per cent per year after charges and tax via the five-year fixed-rate charter, and an overall net internal rate of return over the five-year term of 9-16 per cent per annum.

Tapping into the global maritime logistics and shipping industries, the asset class is described by Allocean as having a low correlation to mainstream asset classes.

“Industrial transportation, particularly international shipping, can provide the yield investors have been searching for in the ongoing low-interest rate, uncertain equity market environment. The difficulty has been accessing these assets in a straightforward and transparent manner. We’re aiming to provide that access with Explorer Tanker LP and similar future launches,” Braden Harris, Allocean Martime Investments managing director, said.

Allocean said it employed advisors such as Clifford Chance, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Moore Stephens.

Assets will be purchased on a sale and lease-back basis to its current owners who, given their prior knowledge and ongoing confidence in the capability of the vessel, will continue to operate and employ it along its historic routes around the Mediterranean, Black Sea and European continent.

“With the global economic recovery clearly underway and the relocation of oil refinery capacity eastwards, new routes are opening up, which is boosting the underlying demand for refined product transportation. This, in turn, is creating strong interest among both charterers and investors in this class of vessel, which is ideally positioned to add further value over the longer term,” Harris said.

Investors must put in at least £30,000 / $50,000. It is intended that the vessel will be sold at the end of the charter period to realise investors’ capital. Allocean will offer a bargain matching function if investors want to sell their position early, the statement added.

Allocean Maritime Investments is authorised by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority; its founder began to acquire and operate vessels in 2003.