Money

Ship Finance Fetches USD 400 Mn to Finance Boxship Quartet

Bermuda-based shipowner Ship Finance International has entered into USD 400 million lease financing agreements to finance four 14,000 TEU container vessels.

Illustration. Image Courtesy: Pixabay under CC0 Creative Commons license

The boxships, which were acquired in May 2018, are employed under long term time charters to Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation until 2024, with options to extend the charters by 18 additional months.

Secured with an Asian-based institution, each financing has a term of nearly nine years, with an option to purchase the vessel back after six years, around expiry of the firm period of the charters to Evergreen.

A portion of the proceeds from the financings would be used to refinance the USD 320 million unsecured loan facility arranged at the vessels’ delivery in May. Lease financings for three of the vessels have already been finalized, and the last vessel is expected to close within the next two weeks.

Ship Finance said that the interest rate of the financings “are very attractive,” and the transactions free up USD 80 million of investment capacity, which is expected to be deployed in new investments.

“These financing transactions demonstrate our continued ability to attract highly competitive capital,” Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of Ship Finance Management AS, said.