Seaspan Buys Boxships Quartet

Hong Kong-based owner and manager of containerships in the world Seaspan Corporation has agreed to purchase a fleet of four containerships for approximately $367 million in cash.

The ships include four 12,000 TEU vessels, with three built in 2018 and one built in 2017. The vessels, once delivered, will operate under long-term time charters with an undisclosed global liner, Seaspan said.

The purchase of the vessels is expected to be financed from additional borrowings as well as cash on hand.  Seaspan expects to take delivery of the vessels during March and April 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.  The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Seaspan's earnings per diluted share.

Pro-forma for this acquisition, Seaspan's global fleet exceeds one million TEU at 123 vessels and 1,023,000 TEU, bringing the total contracted revenue to $4.6 billion with a weighted average remaining lease period of approximately 4.2 years.

"Seaspan continues to be the market leading independent owner and operator of containerships, with pro forma market share of approximately 7.9% of the global fleet," said a press note.

Bing Chen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, said, "The acquisition of four high-quality, young, sizeable, eco-modern vessels marks our eleventh containership acquisition in the past five months, in aggregate adding approximately 117,000 TEU to our global fleet, which now exceeds one million TEU. With our unique business model backed by a strong balance sheet and robust cash flow, we will accelerate sustainable value creation through executing high-quality growth opportunities, as well as continue to be the trusted and preferred partner for our leading global liner customers."

Ryan Courson, Chief Financial Officer, said: "This strategic acquisition further demonstrates our ability to source and execute large-scale investments at high rates of return on invested capital. With this transaction, we will have deployed over $2.6 billion of capital across our shipping portfolio since 2018, meaningfully improving Seaspan's returns and increasing long-term contracted cash-flows to $4.6 billion. Through these $2.6 billion of investments, we remain committed to a strong credit profile, balance sheet and access to liquidity while providing a best-in-class cost of capital to our portfolio via innovative financing structures."