New York-listed Scorpio Tankers is continuing its remarkable buying spree by snapping up more product tankers in September.
Scorpio Tankers, which embarked on a purchasing spree this year, has been one of the most active players in the purchase market for MR and LR2 product tankers.
The shipowner has pushed its remarkable spending spree with a handful of financed purchases.
The Emanuele A. Lauro-led company has exercised in September the purchase options on two MR product tankers, STI Leblon and STI Bosphorus, that were previously financed on the 2020 CMBFL lease financing and repaid the aggregate outstanding lease obligation of $36.5m as part of these transactions.
A regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed the company had given notice in September that it would exercise options to buy four MR product tankers, STI Esles II, STI Donald C Trauscht, STI Jardins and STI San Telmo, that are currently financed on the 2020 SPDB lease financing.
The purchases of the first two, STI Esles II and STI Donald C Trauscht, are expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023, whilst the remaining purchases of the other two vessels, STI Jardins and STI San Telmo, are expected to occur in the first quarter of 2024.
The shipowner also gave notice in September to exercise the purchase option on an MR product tanker, STI Amber that is currently financed on the BCFL Lease Financing (MRs). The purchase is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the outstanding lease liability is expected to be $8.2 million at the date of purchase.
In the regulatory filing it is also shown that the shipowner has exercised several purchase options on MR and LR2 lease finance vessels in the months July and August 2023.
The company, with a fleet of 112 product tankers that have a weighted average age of 7.7 years, recently sealed a deal with DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale for a credit facility of up to $94m.
