Scorpio Bulkers Inc. Announces the Refinancing of an Ultramax Vessel
April 17 2018 - 4:16PM
Scorpio Bulkers Inc. (NYSE:SALT) (“Scorpio Bulkers,” or the
“Company”) announced today that the Company has entered into a
financing transaction in respect of one of the Company’s Ultramax
vessels with an unaffiliated third party in Japan.
As part of the transaction, the Company will
sell a 2015 Japanese built Ultramax dry bulk vessel, SBI Tango, for
a consideration of $19.0 million and then lease it back from the
buyer through a five-year bareboat charter agreement at a rate of
$5,400 per day. If converted to floating interest rates, based on
the expected weighted average life of the transaction, the
equivalent cost of financing at current swap rates would be LIBOR +
1.73%.
The transaction also provides the Company with
options to repurchase the vessel beginning on the third anniversary
of the sale until the end of the bareboat charter agreement.
This transaction, which shall be treated as a financial lease for
accounting purposes, increases the Company’s liquidity by
approximately $10.3 million after repayment of the vessel’s
existing loan.
About Scorpio Bulkers Inc.
Scorpio Bulkers Inc. is a provider of marine
transportation of dry bulk commodities. Scorpio Bulkers Inc.
has an operating fleet of 56 vessels consisting of 55 wholly-owned
or finance leased drybulk vessels (including 18 Kamsarmax vessels
and 37 Ultramax vessels), and one
time chartered-in Ultramax vessel. In addition, one
Kamsarmax vessel which is being constructed at Jiangsu New
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd in China is expected to be
delivered to the Company in the third quarter of 2018. Upon final
delivery of the last vessel, the Company’s owned and finance leased
fleet is expected to have a total carrying capacity of
approximately 3.9 million dwt and all of the Company’s owned
vessels will have carrying capacities of greater than 60,000 dwt.
Additional information about the Company is available on the
Company’s website www.scorpiobulkers.com, which is not a part
of this press release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may
constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for
forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to
provide prospective information about their business.
Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans,
objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and
underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than
statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take
advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary
statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The
words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “forecast,”
“project,” “plan,” “potential,” “may,” “should,” “expect,”
“pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking
statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press
release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are
based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without
limitation, our management’s examination of historical operating
trends, data contained in our records and other data available from
third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were
reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently
subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are
difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we
cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these
expectations, beliefs or projections.
In addition to these important factors, other
important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to
differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements include the failure of counterparties to fully perform
their contracts with us, the strength of world economies and
currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in
charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk
vessel capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including
bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our
vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, charter
counterparty performance, ability to obtain financing and comply
with covenants in such financing arrangements, changes in
governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory
authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation,
general domestic and international political conditions, potential
disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events,
vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors.
Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties.
Contact:
Scorpio Bulkers Inc.
+377-9798-5715 (Monaco)
+1-646-432-1675 (New York)
Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE:SALT)
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