The two secondhand aframax tankers, bought at $95m from a third party, are expected to join Tanker Investments’ fleet in late-May and early-June 2014, and will continue to trade in the Teekay Taurus Pool.
The two VLCCs, acquired at $154m from Teekay Tankers, are expected to be delivered to Tanker Investments on 9 May 2014.
Tanker Investments intends to finance the acquisition of the four ships with existing cash balances and by drawing a portion of the company’s new $200m revolving credit facility, which is expected to be finalised this month.
“Following Tanker Investments’ successful launch and subsequent initial public offering on the Oslo Stock Exchange in March, we have been focusing on executing our strategic plan to grow our fleet through attractively-priced acquisitions,” commented William Hung, ceo of Tanker Investments.
“We view our investment in VLCCs as an opportunistic addition to our tanker portfolio timed to take advantage of an expected rally in VLCC freight rates and asset prices that we believe may occur earlier than other segments, and the coated aframax investment provides us with optionality to trade these ships in the crude oil or clean products trade,” Hung said.
He added that Tanker Investments has grown its fleet to 13 vessels in five months, with vessel prices currently still well below long term average levels. Six vessels are scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2014.
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