A consortium led by European investment fund manager STAR Capital and Belgian holding company Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH) has completed the acquisition of one of the world’s largest shipmanagers V. Group. The company was bought from Advent International, a private equity firm that purchased the firm in late 2016 from OMERS Private Equity. According to the shipmanager, the consortium provides V. Group with a strong financial foundation to further grow and accelerate the company’s continuing strategic development. All of the financial details of the transaction were not revealed but what is known is that AvH will hold 33.3% of V.Group for an equity investment of $150m excluding acquisition debt financing. Among AvH’s other group businesses is DEME, one of the largest dredging companies in the world. “I am pleased that our new ownership consortium of well-respected, long-term investors with deep shipping sector experience is now in place. The response from customers and colleagues to the announcement of the acquisition has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are continuing to accelerate investments across our shipping and services platform to the benefit of our customers, employees and the industry more broadly,” said René Kofod-Olsen, CEO of V. Group. V.Group is headquartered in London and employs around 2,900 employees worldwide. It has a network of over 44,000 seafarers to provide its clients with professional crews and services approximately 3,500 vessels. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsShipmanagement