Navig8 Product Tankers Secures Loan for 4 Newbuilds

Shipping company Navig8 Product Tankers Inc. has entered into a USD 130.3 million senior secured credit facility agreement for post-delivery financing for four 74,000 DWT LR1 product tankers.

The loan, entered into with Citibank N.A., London Branch and Caixabank, S.A., is for vessels which were either constructed or are currently under construction at South Korea’s STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.

The loan, which would also cover the 87,500 cbm Navig8 Experience delivered in March 2016, provides financing of approximately 65 percent of the contract price of the four ships.

Navig8 said that the financing has two separate tranches, a USD 26.1 million commercial tranche and a USD 104.2 tranche insured by Korean Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure tranche).

Each drawdown from the loan will be comprised of 20 percent from the commercial tranche and 80 percent from the K-Sure tranche, Navig8 said.

“Thus far, we have raised over USD 1.3 billion through a combination of equity, senior debt and sale and leaseback financings. We will continue to seek diverse and inexpensive sources of capital as we continue to accept deliveries from our newbuilding program,” said Nicolas Busch, Chief Executive Officer of Navig8 Product Tankers.

In a separate announcement, Gener8 Maritime said that it took delivery of the ECO very large crude carrier (VLCC) the Gener8 Nautilus on April 20, 2016 from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.

The 337,936 cbm Gener8 Nautilus represents the ninth out of a batch of 21 ECO VLCCs expected to join the company’s fleet.

Upon delivery, the Gener8 Nautilus entered Navig8’s VL8 Pool.