KNOT Offshore Partners Takes Brasil Knutsen

KNOT Offshore Partners’ subsidiary KNOT Shuttle Tankers has acquired KNOT Shuttle Tankers 32, a company that owns and operates the shuttle tanker Brasil Knutsen.

As informed, the 153,684 dwt ship was bought from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers for an aggregate price of USD 96 million, less USD 59 million of outstanding indebtedness under the secured credit facility related to the vessel, less approximately USD 35.2 million for a loan owed by KNOT 32 to Knutsen NYK, plus certain capitalized fees related to the financing of the Brasil Knutsen.

Upon closing of the acquisition, KNOT 32 repaid the company liquidity loan in full, the company said.

The purchase price was settled by way of a cash payment of approximately USD 3.1 million and will be subject to certain post-closing adjustments for working capital and interest and currency fluctuation on the company liquidity loan. The Brasil Facility is repayable in quarterly installments with a final balloon payment of USD 41 million due at maturity in July 2022 and bears interest at an annual rate equal to LIBOR plus a margin of 2.3%, according to KNOT Offshore Partners.

Built at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Korea in 2013, the DP2 Suezmax class shuttle tanker is operating in Brazil under a time charter with Galp Sinopec Brazil Services B.V., which will expire in the third quarter of 2022. The charterer has options to extend the charter for two three-year periods.

Brasil Knutsen, previously named Brasil Voyager, was purchased by Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers for USD 90 million in May this year, VesselsValue’s data shows.

KNOT Offshore Partners owns, operates and acquires shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the deep-water offshore oil production regions of the North Sea and Brazil.