The executive committee of Euronav NV announced that the company sold the Newbuilding Suezmax Cap Isabella (2013 – 157,648 dwt) for a selling price of USD 54,000,000 and that the vessel will be delivered to its new owner upon delivery from Samsung Heavy Industries due to happen by the end of the month.
The vessel will be taken back under a bareboat charter for a fixed period of 2 years at current market rates and with 3 options to extend the charter by a further year. In the event of a sale of the vessel by the new owner during the currency of the bareboat charter, the company will also share in the profit if the vessel value exceeds a certain threshold.
As this transaction was signed before the announcement of the 2012 final figures and is the result of negotiations with various parties which started in the financial year 2012, the company will record the capital loss of USD -32 million still in 2012, in accordance with IFRS rules. More importantly, however, this transaction enables Euronav to eliminate its only remaining capital expenditure whilst using very limited cash to take delivery of the vessel.
[mappress]
Euronav, March 20, 2013