Norwegian shipowner Ocean Yield ASA has agreed to acquire two Newcastlemax dry bulk newbuilds with a 13-year bareboat charter to companies owned and guaranteed by 2020 Bulkers.
The ships in question are Bulk Seoul and Bulk Shanghai, currently under construction at China’s New Times Shipbuilding.
As informed, the total purchase price is USD 84 million net of pre-paid charter hire.
The 224,100 cbm vessels are expected to be delivered in late October and early November 2019. 2020 Bulkers will have certain options to either sell or acquire the vessels during the charter period, as well as a purchase obligation at the end of the charter.
”We are pleased to acquire two scrubber-fitted newcastlemax dry bulk newbuildings with long-term charter to 2020 Bulkers, which increases our fleet to 65 vessels. The investment offers a very attractive risk reward for Ocean Yield,” Lars Solbakken, Ocean Yield’s Chief Executive Officer, commented.
In a separate statement, 2020 Bulkers said it expects the sale and leaseback transactions to be accounted for as finance leases. The lease financing will replace the original USD 30 million committed bank financing per vessels and is expected to increase the company’s liquidity by about USD 21 million upon closing.
A few days ago, 2020 Bulkers informed it inked a time charter agreement for Bulk Shanghai with a subsidiary of Glencore. In July, the shipowner also signed a time charter deal for Bulk Seoul with Koch Supply & Trading, part of Koch Industries.
2020 Bulkers has two vessels in operation and six Newcastlemax bulkers being built at the abovementioned shipyard. All vessels are expected to be delivered by May 2020 and will be fitted with exhaust scrubber systems.