Lomar Shipping, a maritime subsidiary of Libra Group, has acquired the Bremen, Germany-based Carl Büttner Holding GmbH & Co. KG (Carl Büttner or "CB"), according to the company's release. The acquisition of the 166-year-old shipowner and manager — known for its technical management expertise and strong maritime legacy — is Lomar’s most recent step to further diversify and grow its fleet.
Lomar entered into preliminary discussions with CB in Q4 2021, and the final agreement between the groups was reached in early 2022. After obtaining final regulatory approvals, the transaction closed last week at an enterprise value of close to $160 million. Transport Capital provided advisory services and negotiated on behalf of the sellers.
Established in 1856, CB has been owned and managed by five generations of the Büttner family. Through this acquisition, CB will become a subsidiary of Lomar, a ship-owning and management group established in 1976 with a diversified fleet of container vessels, bulk carriers, and chemical/product tankers. Lomar’s extensive experience in maritime includes ownership, commercial management, and technical management working with many leading organizations around the world. Lomar is also itself a maritime subsidiary of the family-owned Libra Group, a global business group whose subsidiaries are predominately in six key sectors, including transportation, with assets and operations in nearly 60 countries.
In 2017, long-time managing director of the CB Group, Thorsten Mackenthun, launched the most extensive newbuilding program in the company's history, which was successfully implemented with the delivery of four state-of-the-art ECO/fuel-efficient handy size chemical/oil-product tankers in 2019 and 2020, advancing the company despite the challenging market environment caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.