DLA Piper has advised German shipping company, Bernhard Schulte Group, on the structuring of a joint venture with Babcock Marine & Technology, part of the Babcock International Group plc. The transaction is subject to applicable merger clearance.

The new joint venture, named OKEANOS, will focus on the use and development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel. The joint venture has already ordered a gas-supply vessel (GSV), with a 7,500 cubic meter capacity from a shipyard in South Korea. The construction of the GSV will be completed in the first quarter of 2018. It will be chartered in the area of the Baltic Sea at the end of 2018.

With this transaction, Bernhard Schulte Group will strengthen both its involvement in the field of gas-supply vessels and its cooperation with the Babcock International Group, a leading engineering support services organization in the UK. The Bernhard Schulte Group is a Hamburg-based leading, family owned ship owner and ship manager. The company has more than 20,000 employees, directly owning ca 100 vessels and managing more than 600 others.

The German DLA Piper team was led by partners Dr Nils Krause (Corporate, Hamburg) and Dr Wolfram Distler (Finance & Projects, Frankfurt). In the UK, the team was led by partner Alan Cunningham (Finance & Projects, London).