Genco Shipping Inks Deal to Buy Drybulk Quartet

Dry bulk specialists Genco Shipping & Trading Limited confirmed that it signed an agreement for the purchase of four drybulk vessels.

Under the deal, signed on June 6, the company is to pay around USD 141 million for the vessels using the proceeds of a new stock offering and cash on hand.

The ships in question are two 180,000 dwt Capesize units, both of which were constructed in 2015 at Chinese shipyards, and two Ultramaxes of 60,000 dwt and 61,000 dwt, built in 2016 and 2014, respectively.

Genco Shipping said that, depending on debt market conditions, it intends to seek commercial bank debt financing to return a portion of the purchase price to for these vessels and to finance or refinance a portion of potential future vessel acquisitions.

On June 14, the company commenced a public offering of common stock to fund future fleet expansion.

“While we do not currently have an agreement to purchase vessels in addition to the four mentioned above, we currently plan to target the acquisition of two additional modern, high specification Capesize vessels with such borrowings,” the company added.

The deal comes on the back of a five-year senior secured credit facility signed on May 31, 2018, for an aggregate principal amount of up to USD 460 million.

On June 5, 2018, the proceeds were used, together with cash on hand, to refinance all of the company’s prior credit facilities and pay down the debt on seven of the company’s oldest vessels.