Ince Consultancy, which incorporates the financial advisory services of international legal and professional services firm Ince, is launching a non-exclusive collaboration with Idwal, the global leader in ship inspections.
The alliance will initially be launched by the Middle East office to countries in the region including the GCC, with the potential to roll out globally.
Through this agreement, Ince Consultancy will act as an introducer of Idwal so to provide clients with a breadth of services aimed at improving strategic decision-making when financing and purchasing vessels. This involves uniting Ince Consultancy’s transaction and advisory capabilities in the region - which include expert advice and access to a network of source banks and alternative financing for vessels - with Idwal’s innovative approach to producing accurate, consistent and objective inspection reports.
Ince Consultancy and Idwal join forces at a time when the ship finance landscape continues to change and evolve from traditional lending to leasing, alternative lending and private equity from funds and investors.
As such, financiers have become more diverse and currently deal with structures that have become more complex and underwriting criteria that have become increasingly stringent, with ship owners facing greater scrutiny.
Additionally, operators increasingly need to prove ESG credentials within their surveys as ESG criteria become one of the key areas that financiers evaluate, and more capital is likely to become available for vessels with higher environmental performance.
Commenting on the announcement, Knut Mathiassen, Managing Director at Ince Consultancy Middle East, said: “The launch of our collaboration with Idwal reinforces our offering and allows us to engage with clients, both banks and shipowners, with a broader range of advice.
He continues: “We have a deep understanding of the complexities of raising capital in the current climate. This includes increasingly stringent due diligence procedures that rely on ship inspections to provide reliable, consistent data, and accurate analysis to inform advice and decision-making. By collaborating with Idwal, we are pleased to offer our clients and their financiers' access to its inspection services. Furthermore, we are keen to promote a more continuous focus on good maintenance of vessels that form security for the bank or lessor, such as annual inspections.”
Nick Owens, CEO of Idwal Marine, concluded: “We are proud to be working with Ince Consultancy due to the strength of its relationships with ship owners, operators and financiers. As the industry’s only consistent source of standardised ship-condition data, we can offer Ince’s financial advisory clients and the lenders that they work with, access to rigorous analysis including ESG factors so that they can make complex investment decisions with more confidence. Piloting the collaboration in the Middle East is a good testbed for potentially scaling up our relationship in other major markets, in line with demand.” -- TradeArabia News Service
