Flex LNG secures first of three planned vessel refinancing deals

Bermuda-headquartered liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping company Flex LNG has completed the lease financing for one of its LNG carriers.

While announcing the $175 million Japanese operating lease with call option (JOLCO) for the LNG carrier Flex Courageous, Flex stated that the refinancing generated net proceeds of approximately $42 million, extending debt maturity to 2035 and reducing the cost of debt.

Knut Traaholt, CFO of Flex LNG, noted: “We are pleased to have completed our first refinancing of 2025 at very attractive terms. We sincerely appreciate the continued trust and support from our banking partners and lease providers.

“With this transaction completed, we now turn our attention to the planned refinancings of Flex Resolute and Flex Constellation, continuing our efforts to further strengthen Flex LNG’s financial platform.”

The 2019-built Flex Courageous is a 173,400-cubic-meter vessel built at DSME (now known as Hanwha Ocean). It was one of the vessels for which the Bermuda player scored an extension of the time charter (TC) agreement in November 2024, with what it said was a supermajor.

The transaction marks the first of three planned vessel refinancings under the company’s balance sheet optimization program, after securing up to 37 years of combined contract backlog across the three vessels.

The refinancing of the other two vessels, Flex Resolute and Flex Constellation, is aimed to be completed in the second half of the year.

According to Flex LNG, its cash balance at the end of Q1 2025 stood at $410 million. The combined refinancing efforts are expected to release $120 million in net proceeds, extend debt maturities, and reduce the overall cost of debt.

Alongside financing deals, the Bermuda-based player went through management changes recently. At the end of March, Øystein Kalleklev decided to step down as CEO after 7.5 years. He was replaced by interim CEO Marius Foss.