Safe Bulkers Completes Acquisition of Mount Troodos

The international provider of marine drybulk transportation services Safe Bulkers said that it had completed the  acquisition a second hand, Japanese, 181,400 dwt, Capesize class dry-bulk vessel the Mount Troodos, built in 2009 in the last quarter.

The Monaco-based company said in a press release that: "We have  acquired Mount Troodos at what we consider an attractive price."

The acquisition was financed from cash on hand and subsequent to quarter end with a new loan facility.

Incidentally, the company signed an amendment to an existing loan facility of $32.0 million initially intended for two vessels, upsizing it to a total of $52.4 million expiring in 2023: i) substituting one vessel by the recently acquired Capesize class vessel and ii) refinancing the existing facility for two other vessels.

As a result the new facility will be secured by four vessels, and the balloon payments for the refinanced two vessels will be pushed back by one year from 2022 to 2023.

Following delivery, Mount Troodos was placed into dry docking upon completion of which in early October, the vessel commenced spot employment at a gross daily charter rate of $18,000.

As of October 31, 2018, our operational fleet comprised of 41 drybulk vessels, 11 of which eco-design, with an average age of 8.2 years and an aggregate carrying capacity of 3.8 million dwt. Our fleet consists of 14 Panamax class vessels, 10 Kamsarmax class vessels, 13 post- Panamax class vessels and 4 Capesize class vessels, all built from 2003 onwards.