Bermuda based and Oslo-listed Avance Gas Holding (Avance Gas), being owners and operators of very large gas carriers (VLGCs), has today announced that it has entered into a sales agreement on their Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) “Iris Glory” at a price of $60 million.
The “Iris Glory” is built in 2008 at Daewoo in South Korea and has 83,700 cbm capacity which is currently employed on a two-year Time Charter Party (TCP) and under the agreement she will be delivered to the new owner following the completion of the current time charter, which is expected to take place between September 2023 and January 2024.
The company mentions in its statement that the sale price is less ordinary broker commission of one percent and therefore the company expect to record a book gain of approximately $22 million once the transaction is carried out. The net cash proceeds after repayment of the lease financing is expected to be approximately $25 million.
With the sale of “Iris Glory” Øystein Kalleklev, CEO Avance Gas, said that “We are pleased to continue our fleet renewal program with the agreement to sell “Iris Glory” once she comes off charter. Last year we sold three 2008/9 built VLGCs and today we are selling the fourth ship of this vintage. This means we only have one VLGC of this vintage left, Venus Glory, which is on Time Charter until end of 2023.”
As he said “during the same time, we have during 2022 and 2023 taken delivery of four new state-of-the-art dual fuelled VLGCs and we are preparing for delivery of the remaining two dual fuelled VLGCS newbuildings next year. The two VLGCs we have taken delivery of in 2023 is also equipped to run on ammonia as fuel while the two VLGCs for delivery next year will also be able to carry ammonia.”
Øystein Kalleklev added that “we have recently contracted two LPG dual fuelled medium sized gas (MGCs) equipped to carry ammonia as well as LPG. We also have the option to add two additional MGCs under this yard contract at the competitive price of $61.5 million for each ship. The sale of “Iris Glory” enables us to free up liquidity to continue to pursue fleet renewal and expansion to further improve our carbon footprint and diversify the cargoes which our ships can carry so that we are prepared to meet the stricter decarbonization rules in the near future.”
