Jorey Chernett, founder of Pointilist Family Office, and largest shareholder in Seacor Marine Holdings, is calling for the company to be sold or for it to pursue other options to realise value for shareholders
Mr Chernett, whose company owns approximately 7.2% of outstanding shares in Seacor Marine delivered a letter to the Board of Directors of Seacor calling for the evaluation of ‘strategic alternatives,’ including an ‘orderly sale of the company or a dual-track fleet sale.’
In his letter to Seacor’s Board of Directors, Mr Chernett addresses what he describes as the severe discount to net asset value (NAV), which has a broker-appraised value of greater than US$20.00 per share, and what he called the “extreme structural value dislocation due to operational and utilization failures at Seacor.” Mr Chernett also outlines a strategy to unlock value for shareholders.
He argues that although the offshore industry has enjoyed supportive cyclical tailwinds, the public market continues to assign a steep discount to Seacor equity due to its ongoing challenges in generating consistent, positive free cash flow. Mr Chernett noted that although Seacor currently trades at a public market capitalization of approximately US$181M, it has an enterprise value of more than US$1Bn ‘that is not being captured.’ “This equity valuation represents an egregious discount to NAV,” he said.
Mr Chernett wrote, “The massive valuation gap between Seacor’s stock price and its physical steel is primarily driven by public market frustration regarding the company’s persistent inability to monetize the fleet and generate free cash flow. Even during the robust industry upcycles of 2023 and 2024, Seacor struggled to achieve positive free cash flow.” He claims that this underperformance is rooted in persistent utilization missteps across both the liftboat and platform supply vessel (PSV) segments. “While we understand that necessary vessel repositioning and maintenance cycles can impact short-term numbers, core peers have managed to maintain higher utilization targets and achieve profitability. We have spoken with numerous Seacor shareholders, and our sentiment is widely shared: enough is enough.
“To generate free cash flow representative of the value of the company’s modern fleet, execution and operational management must improve materially,” said Mr Chernett. “Corporate overhead must be cut aggressively and immediately to preserve vital cash runway and demonstrate to the market that management is finally aligned with shareholder reality.”
Mr Chernett further argues that Seacor’s management must execute the immediate sale to a regional operator or relocate premium liftboats in the Middle East out of the region, in order to maintain operational flexibility while pursuing a sale.
Cash proceeds from a liftboat transactions and G&A savings must be directed toward paying off a large portion of the outstanding debt, Mr Chernett argues, noting that the company’s current interest expense “is an unsustainable drain, costing shareholders approximately US$100,000 per day.”
Mr Chernett said Seacor’s Board of Directors “must pursue a sale of its highly desirable and clean fleet of PSVs and fast support vessels to a buyer, accepting either cash or stock of the acquirer.
“Preserving these segments together ensures maximum leverage with strategic suitors, who can acquire the core fleet for either cash or stock of the acquirer,” he concluded.
