Shuttle tankers operator KNOT Offshore Partners has completed its acquisition of the ownership interests in the company that owns and operates the shuttle tanker Lena Knutsen (KNOT Shuttle Tankers 26).
KNOT Offshore announced the deal to buy the shuttle tanker back in August this year.
The acquisition was done for an aggregate purchase price of $142 million less $133.8 million of outstanding indebtedness plus approximately $24.1 million for a receivable owed by Knutsen NYK to KNOT 26 and approximately $1 million for certain capitalized fees related to the financing of the Lena Knutsen.
On the closing of the acquisition, KNOT 26 repaid approximately $41.9 million of the indebtedness, leaving an aggregate of approximately $91.9 million of debt outstanding under the secured credit facility related to the vessel. The purchase price was settled in cash and will be subject to certain post-closing adjustments for working capital and interest rate swaps. On the closing of the acquisition, Knutsen NYK repaid the receivable in full.
The Lena Knutsen is an 156,559-deadweight ton shuttle tanker, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea and delivered in June 2017. The vessel is operating in the Brazil under a five-year time charter with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, which will expire in the expire third quarter of 2022. The charterer has options to extend the charter for two five-year periods.
Including the Lena Knutsen, the partnership now has a fleet of fourteen vessels with an average age of 4.5 years and a fixed average employment of 4.4 years.