Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (the “Company”) announces that it has signed a memorandum of agreement for the sale of its Aframax/LR2 fleet comprising three vessels (Nissos Therassia, Nissos Schinoussa, Nissos Heraclea) all built in 2015 at H.H.I. South Korea to an unaffiliated third party for a total of $120.75 million. The sale is anticipated to be completed upon delivery of the final vessel to her new owners by latest October 2021.
Following a thorough evaluation of the Company’s net asset value based on current data points in the sale & purchase market and consistent with its Discount Control Mechanism, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) deemed that the magnitude of the Company’s discount to its intrinsic value on both an absolute and relative basis exceeded the acceptable threshold at this point in the tanker market cycle. Furthermore, the sale will remove debt maturities through 2025, reduce the already industry-low average age of the Company’s fleet and improve its emissions performance. The Company calculates that its Aframax/LR2 fleet will have generated a cumulative return on equity of 30% since the Company’s listing on the Euronext Growth exchange in July 2018.
The sale is expected to generate net proceeds of approximately $45 million after repayment of the Aframax/LR2 fleet’s vessel-specific and scrubber debt outstanding at delivery. Upon completion of the sale, the Board intends to propose a shareholder distribution(s) of the majority of the net proceeds. The distribution(s) will be achieved through a write-down of paid-in capital, which requires Board approval only and is not a taxable event.
Contact:
John Papaioannou, CFO
jvp@okeanisecotankers.com
+30 210 4804099
This information is subject to disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
ABOUT OKEANIS ECO TANKERS CORP.
Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. is a pure play eco and scrubber-fitted tanker company that owns and operates a fleet of seventeen modern, high-specification crude oil tankers in the VLCC, Suezmax and Aframax/LR2 segments.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this release may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of the Company and/or the industry in which it operates, sometimes identified by the words “believes”, “expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “estimates” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this release, including assumptions, opinions and views of the Company or cited from third-party sources, are solely opinions and forecasts that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from any anticipated development. The Company does not provide any assurance that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors, nor does the Company accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in the presentation or the actual occurrence of the forecast developments. No obligations are assumed to update any forward-looking statements or to conform to these forward-looking statements to actual results.
The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice.