A new joint venture of global shipping and finance experts, including Tiger Group Investments and The Carlyle Group, has formed a company that will work to acquire more than $5 billion in container, dry bulk, tanker vessels and other shipping assets to capitalize on increasing demand in the shipping sector. The company will commence business immediately and expects to deploy up to $900 million in equity capital during the next five years. Additional financial terms were not disclosed.

Other partners are Seaspan Corporation, the Washington family, Gerry Wang and Graham Porter.

Deutsche Bank served as exclusive financial advisor to Carlyle and Tiger in establishing the joint venture. Latham & Watkins served as counsel to Carlyle, and Shearman, and Sterling served as counsel to Tiger.

The company will focus primarily on bringing together Chinese shipbuilders, lenders and state-owned companies to support China’s desire to increase the amount of cargo it controls. The company will be led by Wang and Porter, who together have more than 50 years experience in the shipping industry and finance, primarily in Asia. Seaspan and the Washington family will invest solely in container vessels purchased by the newly-formed company.

Wang said, “There is increasing desire among Chinese state-owned entities to control the ships that transport their goods around the world. We are confident that our long-standing relationships amongst the world’s shipbuilders, charterers and financiers, particularly in the PRC, will allow us to continue to successfully execute our growth model. We are excited to partner with The Carlyle Group, whose remarkable global platform and relationship network adds an important means of value creation as we source and execute transactions.”

Greg Ledford, managing director and head of Carlyle’s industrial and transportation team, said, “This is a creative solution that combines Carlyle’s extensive transportation experience and established Asia business with the shipping expertise and leadership of Gerry and Graham.”