A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES

Two years after Alpha Shipping
By Kevin Oates

Alpha Shipping was a short lived shipping company which saw success and despair within a period of about 18 months. The story received a lot of press, much of it negative, and much of it misguided. Alpha was made out to be a vehicle which manipulated capital markets and then benefitted, at the cost of others, to the tune of a reputed $30 million.

Every year or so this magazine publishes an article about George Economou (hereinafter”GE”). In 1996 it was “From Acorn to Oak Tree”, relaying the origins and growth of the Drytank SA, his then management company. In 1998 and 1999 there was a lot of coverage of Alpha Shipping and the bond issue and the subsequent restructuring. To note is the article published in Marine Money in January 1999 entitled “Playing Chicken with George.” This article analyses the “value” of the Alpha fleet to the bondholders and suggested an exit price that would be satisfactory to all parties. Rumour has it that the final restructure between CSFB and Alpha was based on the Marine Money analysis! In 2000 we published “Reflections of a High Yield Issuer.” This was the speech that GE made at the New York Marine Money conference of that year in which he enlightened us on his personal thoughts about the Alpha experience.

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