Cyprus-based shipowner Petros Panagiotidis is preparing yet another US-listed shipping vehicle, this time carving a tanker out of Robin Energy.
The Limassol-based owner said the board has approved a plan to spin off the company’s tanker business into a newly created entity called AI Okto, which has applied for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
The new company will initially control a single tanker along with related corporate entities and cash.
Under the proposed structure, existing Robin shareholders will receive one share in AI Okto for every 6.5 shares they hold in Robin. Panagiotidis will serve as chairman and chief executive of the new company once the transaction closes.
The owner said the move is intended to create a “pure-play” tanker company that will also look to develop an artificial intelligence-driven operating model, working with technology and data partners to improve vessel operations.
The restructuring is the latest step in a long line of corporate spin-offs orchestrated by Panagiotidis.
Last year, the tanker Wonder Mimosa was separated from Toro Corp and placed into Robin Energy. Toro itself had previously been spun off from Castor Maritime as part of Panagiotidis’s strategy of creating specialised, publicly traded shipping platforms.
Robin Energy currently operates a small fleet of two LPG carriers and one tanker. If the deal goes through, the tanker will move to AI Okto, leaving Robin as a gas-focused owner while creating another Nasdaq-listed shipping company under the Panagiotidis umbrella.
Source: Splash247
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