Bourbon strikes $2.5bn deal with ICBC

The French company will sell vessels worth $2.5bn from its fleet and retain the vessels on bareboat charter for 10 years.

Following a signing of the first phase of the deal on Tuesday, Chinese firm ICBC Financial Leasing will pay $1.5bn for up to 51 offshore supply vessels either in operation or under construction.

Some features of the deal include Bourbon's right of refusal in the event that the bank decides to sell the vessels during the lease period.

Christian Lefevre, ceo of Bourbon, said: “This operation won’t affect our fleet standardisation strategy as the vessels in the bareboat lease come from our vessel series; they have been designed and built to our standards and Bourbon retains full operational responsibility for its vessels.”

He added that the initial phase of the deal will allow the company to prepare for its growth plan beyond 2015 with stronger financial backing.

Upon completion of this operation with the last vessel to be delivered mid-2014, Bourbon would operate 230 offshore supply vessels including 54 under bareboat charter. The company operated a fleet of 458 supply vessels and crewboats as at 31 December 2012.