U.S. based drybulk shipowner Genco Shipping & Trading Limited strikes a purchase deal for a capesize vessel for a price tag of $43m.
The New-York listed owner bought an additional 2016-built 181,000 dwt scrubber-fitted capesize ship, the Genco Reliance, without disclosing the name of the seller.
The company took delivery last week of the vessel Genco Reliance, as well as of the capesize Genco Ranger.
Genco also revealed today that it has agreed to sell the Genco Commodus, a 2009-built 169,098 dwt capesize vessel, for $19.5m.
The owner expects this sale to result in drydocking savings in 2024 due to the vessel’s upcoming third special survey.
Furthermore, the ship is expected to be delivered to its new buyers in January 2024.
Genco intends to fund the acquisitions through a combination of cash on hand, a drawdown on its revolving credit facility, and proceeds from the sale of the Genco Commodus.
Meanwhile, it expects to have debt outstanding of approximately $210m and undrawn revolver availability of about $290m.
John C. Wobensmith, chief executive of Genco, noted, “We are pleased to have taken important steps to advance our fleet renewal strategy. Leveraging our significant financial strength, we opportunistically acquired two modern, fuel-efficient capesize vessels, while divesting older, non-core tonnage.”
“We expect these two new Capes will seamlessly integrate into our global commercial platform, as sister ships to existing Genco vessels. Importantly, we’ve enhanced the average age of our asset base and improved our earnings capacity to take advantage of favorable long-term industry fundamentals.”
Wobensmith, also added: “Given that the acquired capesizes are high-specification vessels, we viewed these fleet additions as highly attractive, positioning Genco well for the longer term while also improving the efficiency of our fleet to further reduce our carbon footprint.”
Looking ahead, Genco reveals its intention to continue to assess additional sale and purchase transactions in the market.
