Global Ship Lease (GSL) will begin offering a dividend to shareholders after hinting that a substantial debt refinancing would allow it to do just that.

The Ian Webber-led owner of 43 boxships announced on 8 January that it was paying off $236m in 9.875% secured notes due in 2022 with a new secured loan at 7% plus Libor that will mature in 2026.

Executive chairman George Youroukos said in the statement that the new loan would "return a portion of GSL cash flows to shareholders" by lowering annual debt payments by as much as $35m.

On 12 January, the New York-listed company made good on that intention by initiating a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share, starting with the first quarter of 2021.

“Following our recently announced refinancing of our 2022 notes ... I am pleased to announce that Global Ship Lease is now in an excellent position to begin providing our common shareholders a well-supported and highly predictable quarterly dividend," Youroukos said in an announcement.

"One of our long-term strategic objectives has been to introduce a recurring dividend policy and we now look forward to executing on a range of exciting opportunities to continue maximising value for shareholders.”

GSL said dividend payments will be subject to the discretion of its board of directors and will depend on earnings, cash flow and other financial considerations.

The 2022 debt pay-off will cause preferred shares held by private equity firm Kelso & Co to become about 13m GSL common units, increasing the number of outstanding GSL shares to 30.7m.

On 8 January, Fearnleys Securities noted that the refinancing "unlocks significant dividend potential" and called it a "pivotal transformation" for GSL.

GSL stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GSL, gained 6.6% to reach $15.88 by mid-morning on 12 January.

GSL ship sizes range from 2,207 teu to 11,040 teu and have an average age of 13.4 years. Total fleet tonnage is 245,280 teu.