International Seaways Refinances Six Tankers

New York-headquartered tanker shipping company International Seaways, Inc. on Tuesday announced it has signed agreements with Ocean Yield ASA (“Ocean Yield”) for the refinancing of six vessels in sale leaseback transactions.

The bareboat charter-in lease agreements for the six modern scrubber-fitted very large crude carriers (VLCC) Seaways Tybee, Seaways Triton, Seaways Cape Henry, Seaways Hendricks, Seaways Liberty, and Seaways Diamond Head are for a period of 10 years with purchase obligations at expiry.

The transactions are expected to fund in early November 2021 and result in financing of approximately $375 million, which will be used to replace the current $228 million Sinosure facility, with the balance intended for general corporate purposes. Upon completion, the International Seaways expects the refinancing to generate incremental liquidity of approximately $150 million.

“Reflecting our enhanced capabilities following our recent transformational merger, we are pleased to enter into this opportunistic and favorable refinancing ahead of the anticipated tanker market recovery, which is beginning to emerge,” said Lois K. Zabrocky, International Seaways’ President and CEO. “Seaways’ strong liquidity, leadership in both the crude and product tanker markets, and disciplined capital allocation approach position us well to create enduring shareholder value.”

Jeff Pribor, International Seaways CFO, added, “This attractive transaction enables us to further diversify our capital structure with long-term financing with terms that harmonize well with those in our other corporate loans, while unlocking additional liquidity. We appreciate the strong support we continue to receive from global finance providers and thank Sinosure, Export-Import Bank of China, Bank of China and Citibank who originally extended the project construction loans that we assumed in 2018 when we acquired these high-quality vessels.”