Euroseas Sells Vessels, Refinances Newbuild

Euroseas Ltd., owner and operator of drybulk and container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk and containerized cargoes, announced the sale of several vessels, as well as the refinancing of a newbuild and six older ships.

The company said it has sold M/V Despina P, a 1,932 TEU containership, built in 1990, and of M/V Aristides NP, a 69,268 dwt drybulk carrier built in 1993, to unaffiliated third parties for recycling. M/V Despina P was delivered to its buyers on December 28, 2015. M/V Aristides NP is expected to be delivered to its buyers around January 15, 2016.

Euroseas has also signed a binding termsheet to finance 69 percent of the fair market value at delivery of its newbuilding, M/V Xenia, an 82,300 dwt drybulk vessel, expected to be delivered around February 25, 2016. Upon delivery, M/V Xenia will enter in a four year time charter at $14,100/day with an option for the charterer to extend it for a fifth year at $14,350/day. The company which has already made payments for 30 percent of the contracted price of the vessel will finance the remaining payment from existing funds.

In addition, the company announced new delivery schedules for its remaining three newbuildings. Delivery of its two Ultramax vessels is now expected to be in April and July 2016, respectively, a delay of five month each from the original schedule. Delivery of its second Kamsarmax vessel will be delayed by approximately fifteen months and it is now expected to be delivered between January and March 2018.

Furthermore, Euroseas announced that it has signed a binding termsheet to draw a loan with a three year tenor and balloon of about 65 percent of the loan amount to refinance existing debt on its vessels M/V Ninos, Kuo Hsiung, Cpt. Costas, Manolis P and Monica P which along with, the currently unencumbered, M/V Aggeliki P, will serve as collateral to the new loan.

Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented,"We are very pleased to have concluded agreements to finance our first Kamsarmax newbuilding and to refinance existing debt on six of our elder vessels. Both of these agreements along with the previously arranged debt financing for our two Ultramax newbuildings and proceeds from the sale of two of our elder vessels significantly increase our near term liquidity and will enable us to take delivery of all our three newbuildings scheduled to be delivered in 2016.

"With the drybulk market at 30-plus year lows and containership markets also very close to the lowest levels, we believe we have managed to position the company to take advantage of any cyclical market recovery over the next couple of years," Pittas said.