The Board of Tufton Oceanic Assets announced that the Company has agreed to acquire two Product Tankers for $73.0m. They are being acquired below depreciated replacement cost. These acquisitions will take the Company’s fleet to twenty-three vessels.
Both vessels have fixed rate time charters for three to five years to a major commodity trading and logistics company. The yield during the charters exceeds the targets expressed in the Company’s prospectus dated 25 September 2018.
The acquisitions are being financed primarily by a new $60m loan, which will be secured on the two Product Tankers being acquired, Courteous and Mindful, and the two Product Tankers acquired earlier this year, Marvelous and Exceptional. In parallel with Courteous and Mindful being chartered as described above, Marvelous will also enter a fixed rate time charter for three to five years to the same major commodity trading and logistics company from November. Until then Marvelous will operate in the spot market via employment in a pool as described in our announcement of 10 June 2022.
The Company will repay the loan over 3 to 5 years depending on the charter coverage of the four vessels at the relevant time. Exceptional will be available for a new charter by April 2024.
These four Product Tankers are in the top quartile of fuel efficiency in their market segment but will nonetheless be evaluated for further improvement, including the retrofit of energy saving devices.
After the acquisitions, which are expected to close in mid November, and the new charter for Marvelous, the average portfolio charter length will be 1.4 years. Pro forma leverage will be c.15% of portfolio charter-free value.
These acquisitions, charters and financing demonstrate our commitments to capital re-allocation and ESG, and also the strong improvement in the product and chemical tanker markets previously communicated.
