New York-listed shipping company Scorpio T[ds_preview]ankers has received commitments for a loan facility of up to $172 million to finance eight tankers currently being built in Korea.
The commitments were given by a group of financial institutions including Macquarie Bank, German Deka Bank, The Export-Import Bank of Korea and Garanti-Instituttet for Eksportkreditt. Scorpio intends to use the loan facility, which is composed of multiple tranches, to finance up to 60% of the market value of eight MR product tankers under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which are scheduled for delivery in 2017 and 2018.
»The maturity date of each tranche is between six and 12 years from each drawdown date, and the facility bears interest at LIBOR plus a blended margin of 2.02% per annum. The terms and conditions, including financial covenants, are similar to those set forth in the Company‘s existing credit facilities. The loan facility is subject to customary conditions precedent and the execution of definitive documentation«, Scorpio announced.
It was only in December when the ship owner succeeded in the upsizing and extension of its BNP Paribas Credit Facility and received an additional 27.6 mill. $.
Scorpio currently owns 77 product tankers (21 LR2, 14 Handymax, and 42 MR tankers) with an average age of 2.2 years and time charters-in 16 product tankers (two LR2, one LR1, eight MR and five Handymax tankers). In addition, the Company has contracted for 10 newbuilding product tankers (eight MR and two LR2 tankers).
The strategy of the company includes a growth plan. »Asset values in the tanker industry are significantly below the last 10 year trailing averages. We believe that current circumstances present an opportunity for us to grow our fleet at favorable prices«, it says on its homepage.
For the first nine months of 2016, Scorpio had reported a sharp decline of the net income with $4.8 million. The corresponding period of 2015 had led to a net income of $183.5 million.
