Anglo-Eastern Group and Univan Group, the independent and third-party ship management companies, have agreed to merge to form the Anglo-Eastern Univan Group.
The merged business will be led by Peter Cremers as executive chairman, Bjorn Hojgaard as CEO, Marcel Liedts as chief operating officer, and Mark Stevenson as chief financial officer, a press release issued by MTI Network (Asia) on behalf of Anglo-Eastern said.
The newly merged group will have more than 1,700 shore-based staff, more than 24,000 seafarers, 600 ships under full management, and 100 ships under crew management only.
The merged group will first continue to operate as separate entities, out of existing offices. The Anglo-Eastern and Univan tanker fleets will continue to operate under their existing management and from offices in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Started in 1974, the Anglo-Eastern was a home-grown product and took off as a third-party manager after Cremers joined in 1985. Liedts joined Cremers on the management team and the managed fleet steadily grew under their leadership. The company underwent a management buyout in 1998, followed in 2001 by a merger with Denholm Ship Management, providing a presence in Europe.
Univan Ship Management was started by the late C A J Vanderperre. A former Maersk captain, Hojgaard was appointed CEO of the company in 2012. In the past few years, Univan has refocused its efforts on serving first-class shipowner clients and has seen rapid fleet growth.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.