The bid by Greece's Okeanis Eco Tankers to take back ownership of four VLCCs from Ocean Yield will be settled at arbitration.
Ocean Yield said in its fourth quarter report that the matter has now been referred to a tribunal.
"If the arbitration panel rules in favour of Okeanis Eco Tankers, Ocean Yield expects to book a small net profit and a net positive cash effect of about $60m," it added.
The Norwegian shipowner had revealed last year that it received a notice from Okeanis that it had exercised options to repurchase the vessels at 103% of the outstanding lease fees, plus costs and losses.
Ocean Yield disputed its right to exercise such an option.
The company only took delivery of the fourth and final VLCC in the series from the newbuilding yard in South Korea in July this year.
The four VLCCs are fixed to Okeanis on 15-year bareboat charters with a five-year sub-charter to Koch Shipping.
Ocean Yield first announced the deal for the four ships in February 2018 when it agreed to pay a gross purchase price of $83.75m per vessel.
At the time it said Okeanis would have certain options to acquire the vessels during the charter period, with the first purchase option exercisable after seven years.
The four VLCCs are Nissos Antiparos, Nissos Despotiko, Nissos Santorini and Nissos Rhenia (all built 2019).
Okeanis confirmed the move to TradeWinds in October, but said it could not comment further.
Another option exercised
Meanwhile, Navig8 Chemical Tankers has exercised another five-year purchase option to buy back a tanker from Ocean Yield.
It had already declared an option for the 38,000-dwt chemical carrier Navig8 Amessi (built 2015) and now is taking back the sistership Navig8 Aquamarine.
The purchase price for the two vessels is $53m en bloc.
Ocean Yield posted net profit of $9.6m in the fourth quarter, up from a loss of $49.9m in the same period of 2018.
Revenue grew to $65.8m from $64.2m, as it took delivery of seven vessels in the period.
The 2019 figure included an increase of $7.7m in provisions related to decommissioning and field abandonment in India, where its FPSO Dhirubhai-1 was operating.
The full year showed a net loss of $39.9m.
Lars Solbakken, CEO of Ocean Yield, said: “The fourth quarter was yet another busy quarter for Ocean Yield, where we expanded the fleet with another seven vessels on long-term charter.
"The fleet has now grown to 69 vessels with long-term charters to 20 different counterparties in eight different segments, with a total Ebitda charter backlog of $3.6bn at the end of the quarter.”
Fearnley Securities said the report was overall a "neutral/slightly negative" one due to continued uncertainty around the employment of the FPSO and the unsolved Okeanis legal dispute.
But it added: "We expect the company to continue to grow accretively throughout the year, with the opportunity set ever increasing. When the dust settles, we expect the Ocean Yield share to move higher."
It reaffirmed its buy rating on the stock.
