Global Ship Lease (GSL) has swooped on a dozen containerships from the fleet of Borealis Finance in a $233.9m deal.

The acquired vessels have an average size of around 3,000 teu and come with outstanding charters of between three and 25 months.

GSL will fund the purchase with cash on hand, the proceeds of new bank debt and the issuance of $35m of its existing 8% senior unsecured notes.

It will take delivery of the ships from Oslo-listed Borealis in the third quarter.

The deal lifts the GSL fleet to 62 vessels with a capacity of 322,770 teu, making it the eighth-largest non-operating owner of containerships by teu capacity.

Cash flow positive

Executive chairman George Youroukos said the ships being acquired would be “cash flow positive from the first day”.

They are expected to contribute about $60m of adjusted Ebitda in the first 12 months.

Youroukos added that the vessels have “an appealing combination of existing medium-term charter cover and upside potential in the relative near term”.

That was derived from charter renewals “in one of the strongest ever containership charter markets, in which both charter rates and durations are significantly above the levels of recent years”, he said.

“These additions to the GSL fleet will increase our exposure to the workhorse feeder and handysize segments.”

Such vessels are commanding record charter rates stemming from strong demand and effectively full employment.

“Discussions are already underway to secure additional forward cover on terms reflecting these superior market conditions,” Youroukos said.

Clarkson Platou Securities acted as sole advisor to GSL, which was represented by Seward & Kissel as legal counsel.

Neptune’s first deal

The deal comes a week after GSL tied up a sale-and-leaseback financing transaction with Neptune Maritime Leasing, the Channel Islands company founded by veteran financier Harris Antoniou.

The Neptune deal is GSL’s first sale-and-leaseback financing transaction and was used for the financing of the 6,008-teu GSL Violetta (built 2000), which is subject to a long-term charter with AP Moller-Maersk.

It is one of seven 6,000-teu ships that GSL acquired in February for $116m that will be chartered back to Maersk for between three and five years.