KNOT Shuttle Tankers to Buy Tordis Knutsen

2017-02-20

KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS, a subsidiary of KNOT Offshore Partners, has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire KNOT 24, the company that owns the 2016-built Suezmax shuttle tanker Tordis Knutsen, from Knutsen NYK.

The purchase price is USD 147 million, less USD 137.7 million of outstanding indebtedness related to the 157,400 dwt vessel.

Under the deal agreed on February 14, the acquisition is expected to be finalized within 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions.

With this sale, KNOT 24 will repay around USD 42.8 million of the indebtedness, leaving an aggregate of USD 94.9 million of debt outstanding under the secured credit facility related to the vessel.

The company said that the Tordis Facility is repayable in quarterly installments with a final balloon payment of USD 30.5 million due at maturity in October 2021.

Delivered in November 2016, Tordis Knutsen is operating in Brazil under a five-year time charter with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, which will expire in the first quarter of 2022. The charterer has options to extend the charter for two five-year periods.

The agreement was unveiled as part of KNOT Offshore Partners’ earnings release for the period ended December 31, 2016.

The company said that its net income for the full year of 2016 increased to USD 61.1 million, from USD 40.4 million seen in the previous year, while its total revenues reached USD 173.6 million, up from USD 155 million.

Additionally, the partnership expects to receive options to acquire three more vessels owned by Knutsen NYK, which are currently under construction in South Korea and China.

Source from : World Maritime News

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