Knightsbridge Tankers buys six Fredriksen capesize bulkers

The ship from Karpasia, a private, trust-controlled company for the Fredriksen family, fetched $55m while the five newbuilds from Shanghai Waigaoqiao, with deliveries between May and September 2014, will go for $61m each.

Knightsbridge will pay $186m of the $360m total in freshly-issued shares at $10 each, $24m in cash and the adoption of $150m in newbuilding capex.

The Nasdaq-listed tanker owner will look to raise $30m in bank debt for each of the ships as it expands its capesize market ahead of an anticipated dry bulk recovery. The company expects to have 10 capsizes in operation by the end of September 2014, with four newbuilds joining the fleet in 2015.

Frontline 2012 chairman John Fredriksen, commented: "We are very pleased to be able to enter into a transaction with Knightsbridge, which is in line with our strategic plan of creating pure plays in different shipping segments through consolidation, divestments and spin offs."

"The purchase by Knightsbridge of the six Capesize vessels will help us in developing the leading New York listed capesize owner," Ola Lorentzon, Knightsbridge, ceo added.

"We believe that acquiring these vessels will greatly benefit our shareholders through additional scale and reduced fleet age and we believe it will increase our opportunity to benefit from a dry bulk market recovery. We will seek to have a moderate debt level per vessel and favorable amortization profile, with the ambition to create a structure that allows for high distribution capacity. Needless to say, it is a major step for the company."