Global Ship Lease Provides Update on Recent Chartering and Refinancing Activity
January 25 2022 - 4:15PM
Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GSL) (the “Company”) today
provided an update on its recent chartering and refinancing
activity.
The Company has agreed a new three-year charter
with a leading liner operator for the 2,200 TEU, 2002-built Kumasi.
The charter is scheduled to commence following the vessel’s
regulatory drydock in January 2022, at a rate of $38,000 per
day.
The Company has also agreed a new senior secured
debt facility to refinance its outstanding $219.4 million senior
secured debt facility, which will extend the maturity date from
September 2024 to December 2026, amend certain covenants in the
Company’s favor, further strengthen the Company’s ability to
sustain dividends throughout market cycles, and release three
vessels from the facility’s collateral basket (the “Unencumbered
Vessels”), at an unchanged rate of LIBOR + 3.00%. The Unencumbered
Vessels were subsequently used as collateral for a new $60 million
syndicated senior secured debt facility, priced at LIBOR + 2.75%,
which the Company intends to utilize to fully repay its 10.00%
junior debt facility, and for general corporate purposes.
The Company has also hedged its exposure to a
potential rising interest rate environment by putting in place a
USD LIBOR cap of 0.75% through fourth quarter 2026 (the “Interest
Rate Cap”), on $484 million of its floating rate debt, which
reduces over time and represents approximately half of the
Company’s outstanding floating rate debt.
George Youroukos, Executive Chairman of Global
Ship Lease, commented, “As the numerous multi-year forward charters
that we have agreed in recent quarters increasingly come into
effect and substantially strengthen our long-term cashflows, we
have remained active in ensuring that we crystallize the long-term
benefits of having a high-quality fleet during this extraordinarily
strong market. We have had continual success in improving our
balance sheet by reducing our cost of debt, hedging much of our
floating rate interest exposure, increasing the diversification of
our lenders to a total number of 18, and improving both terms and
flexibility in ways that will support our competitiveness, our
earnings, and our ability to reliably pay a dividend throughout
market cycles. We have also remained active in chartering, securing
long-term employment for our only near-term expiry, the Kumasi, and
exploring opportunities for forward contracts for vessels coming
off charter later this year. The highly attractive rate that we
have secured for the 20-year-old Kumasi represents an increase of
more than 300% from the vessel’s prior rate and is approximately
20% higher than multi-year charters agreed for two of Kumasi’s
sister vessels during the fourth quarter of 2021. We believe that
this is clear evidence that the market for mid-sized and smaller
containerships has maintained significant positive momentum on the
back of highly supportive and durable fundamentals despite what is
traditionally the low season for the charter
market.”
About Global Ship Lease
Global Ship Lease is a leading independent
owner of containerships with a diversified fleet of mid-sized and
smaller containerships. Incorporated in the Marshall
Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations
in December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering
out containerships under fixed-rate charters to top tier container
liner companies. It was listed on the New York stock
Exchange in August 2008.
As at January 25, 2022, Global Ship
Lease owned 65 containerships, ranging from 1,118 to 11,040
TEU with an aggregate capacity of 342,348 TEU. 32 ships are
wide-beam Post-Panamax.
Adjusted to include all charters agreed, and
ships contracted to be purchased, up to January 25, 2022, the
average remaining term of the Company’s charters as
at September 30, 2021, to the mid-point of redelivery,
including options under the Company’s control and other than if a
redelivery notice has been received, was 2.8 years on a
TEU-weighted basis. Contracted revenue on the same basis
was $1.89 billion. Contracted revenue was $2.15 billion,
including options under charterers’ control and with latest
redelivery date, representing a weighted average remaining term of
3.5 years.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements provide the Company’s current
expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking
statements include statements about the Company’s expectations,
beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other
statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as
“anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,”
“intend,” “may,” “ongoing,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,”
“project,” “will” or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of
those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements,
but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a
statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements
are based on assumptions that may be incorrect, and the Company
cannot assure you that the events or expectations included in these
forward-looking statements will come to pass. Actual results could
differ materially from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements as a result of various factors,
including the factors described in “Risk Factors” in the Company’s
Annual Report on Form 20-F and the factors and risks the Company
describes in subsequent reports filed from time to time with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, you should
not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes
no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to
reflect circumstances or events after the date of this press
release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
CONTACT: Investor and Media Contact: The IGB GroupBryan
Degnan646-673-9701or Leon Berman 212-477-8438
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