In the cases of both EHLD and CMBT, the acquirer took control of the board of directors, and with it, gained the ability to appoint their own management teams and chart the company’s course going forward.

A basic corporate valuation principle: the day after a company pays a dividend, the valuation of the company will decrease by the amount of the dividend (whether paid in cash or stock).

Yet, the conventional corporate finance rules don’t often apply to public shipping companies—take the 2018 Euroseas Ltd. spin off ofEuroDry Ltd., for example.