DryShips Closes Sale of Six Aframaxes

Owner of dry bulk carriers and tankers DryShips has wrapped up the sale of its six Aframax tankers to entities controlled by the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, George Economou.

The tankers’ en-bloc sales price amounts to USD 291 million, DryShips said in an announcement. The sale, which was announced in March, relates to the following ships: Belmar, Calida, Alicante, Mareta, Saga and Daytona.

Commenting on the sale back in March, Ziad Nakhleh, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, said that these transactions would generate
approximately an additional $150 million in free cash which could be potentially used to prepay any remaining outstanding amount under the company’s ABN AMRO Bridge Loan.

“Ultimately, we believe the sale of the tankers as opposed to an initial public offering of our tanker fleet is the best way to immediately realize maximum value. These transactions increase
our cash liquidity and we believe they should release the selling pressure on both DryShips and Ocean Rig share prices, as we demonstrate that DryShips has many options other than the sale of undervalued Ocean Rig shares,” he added.

DryShips owns a fleet of 39 drybulk carriers, and owns and operates 13 offshore ultra deepwater drilling units, comprising of 2 ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs and 11 ultra deepwater drillships.