Golden Energy Offshore Services has secured financing and reached an agreement with Neptune Subsea to acquire its two IMR & light construction vessels Larissa and Despina.
The purchase price is USD 39 million per vessel and the seller has agreed to subscribe to USD 8 million of shares in the company as part settlement of the purchase price.
Golden Energy has received committed credit approval from a syndicate of major financial institutions for an attractive term loan to be granted to a non-recourse subsidiary of the company to acquire the vessels.
The term loan of USD 35 million matures in November 2022, with an amortisation grace period until October 2021 and loan repayments will start thereafter at USDm 2 p.a. per vessel.
Delivery of the two vessels is expected to in Q1 2019, the company noted.
Golden Energy CEO Per Ivar Fagervoll said: “Under the existing management by Golden Energy Offshore the Despina and Larissa have been warmly welcomed in the market and we are confident that charterers will also find the MPSVs very interesting. We are in dialogue with possible charterers for the vessels, but we expect to trade all vessels in the spot market during 1H 2019 as we anticipate that the market for modern SPS compliant offshore vessels will tighten as the market improves. The confidence shown by the commitment made by the lenders confirms the quality of our operation and proposed capital structure.”
The agreement for the purchase of the OCV/IMR vessels is subject to the company successfully raising the financing required to pay the purchase price. No decision has been made to launch a possible equity raise and the structure, terms and conditions of a possible equity raise are expected to be decided during Q4 2018.
Neptune Larissa and Neptune Despina are 98.6 meters long sister vessels of Ulstein SX130 design delivered in 2011 by Zhejiang Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group.