USD 980 million for 15 VLCC from Maersk’s fleet
Euronav announced that it has enteredinto a contract to acquire fifteen (15) Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) from MaerskTankers Singapore Pte Ltd for a total acquisition price of USD 980 million payable as thevessels are being delivered.
The vessels have an average age of 4 years and will expandthe large tanker fleet of Euronav made of 1 ULCC, 11 VLCCs and 23 Suezmaxes. Thevessels will be operated in the Tankers International VLCC Pool of which Euronav is afounding member. The outlook for the large crude tanker market has improved significantlyover the last months indicating a resurgence of demand and an improved near termoutlook.
Each vessel will be sold under the industry standard sale form as a stand-alone asset withdeliveries taking place between late January and June with the exception of one vesselcurrently under charter, which will be delivered towards the end of the year.
Euronav considers the acquisition as a first step towards a wider consolidation of the worldtanker fleet, with the concurrent benefits of synergy and logistical enhancement to thebenefit of all stakeholders.Euronav NV was advised on the acquisition by RMK Maritime, an independent maritimeadvisory firm based in London and New York
The company also announced today that the board of directors has decided to raise USD50,000,000 by way of a capital increase under the authorised capital and that 5,473,571new shares will be issued upon full payment of the subscription price, which is expected tobe at or around 10 January 2014.The subscription price for the shares was set at 6.70 EURper share which is above the average closing price of the Euronav share during the 30calendar days prior to today’s board decision and takes into account a EUR/USD exchangerate of 1.3634.
Euronav will finalise in the coming days a USD 500 million bank debt facility as well as USD235 million of mezzanine financing in order to complete the funding of the acquisition.In relation to the acquisition of the Maersk fleet, Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav said:”This acquisition is a first step towards a wider consolidation of the world tanker fleet, withthe concurrent benefits of synergy and logistical enhancement to the benefit of allstakeholders. Euronav lead the way in 1999 with the establishment of the first VLCC pool,Tankers International LLC and it is our belief that effective access to capital markets willrequire tanker owning companies to become larger so as to provide sufficient scale andliquidity to meet the requirements of large institutional investors. That also fits well withthe industry requirement for long-term stable companies, who are owners, operators andmanagers with a strong operational reputation and a good understanding of the markets.Euronav has effectively become the only platform of comparable size dedicated to the crudeoil tanker sector and has ambition to grow further.”
