Gas carrier owner and operator Epic Gas has exercised purchase options for three LPG vessels, the company said announcing its first-quarter results.
The options form part of existing lease agreements expiring in the first quarter of 2019 and relate to 2000-built Epic Balta, 2002-built Epic Burano and 2002-built Epic Bolivar.
Epic Gas said the trio was leased back to a Japanese ship owning company, resulting in a net decreased monthly finance cost.
The company has purchase options to re-acquire the vessels during the charter period, with the first such option exercisable on the third anniversary of the vessels’ delivery.
During the quarter, Epic Gas sold the oldest ship in its fleet, the Epic St. John, built in 1998, at a margin over book value. In addition, the gas carrier owner completed a sale-leaseback transaction for the 2007-built Epic Manhattan with an unnamed Japanese company.
Epic Gas ended the first three months of this year with a net loss of USD 2.7 million, down from last year’s loss of USD 3.4 million.
At the end of Q1 2018, the company had a fleet of 39 vessels with a total capacity of 264,000cbm and an average size of 6,769 cbm, a 3.2 pct increase in average size from a year ago.