Norway’s Ocean Yield is committed to spending more cash on green vessels after a huge investment in 2022.
Chief executive Andreas Rode said the KKR-owned sale-and-leaseback specialist continued to renew and diversify the fleet during the fourth quarter.
Ocean Yield committed “more than $600m” in modern future-proof vessels, taking the total investment figure for the year to more than $1bn.
It confirmed a deal to buy up to 10 ammonia-ready newcastlemax newbuildings from Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), chartering them back to the Saverys-owned company for 15 years.
Ocean Yield had not previously revealed the seller.
Rode said the deal was “a testimony to Ocean Yield’s strategy of facilitating our partners’ role in the energy transition.”
The price for the deal was given in December as $576m, net of seller’s credits.
Fearnley Securities expects the gross price to be closer to $650m, or $65m per vessel.
CMB signed the order for an additional 10 dual-fuel newcastlemax newbuildings worth $640m last November, as yard prices began to ease off in China.
Ocean Yield sold 12 conventionally fuelled vessels in 2022, while acquiring three methanol-ready container ships and two ethane-fuelled gas carriers.
Keeping an open mind
Rode told a conference with analysts: “We remain segment-agnostic when evaluating new investment opportunities, but we’re always cognisant of the development of the underlying market cycles as we seek to mitigate and manage risk appropriately.
“This will be increasingly important as we might be entering into a phase with lower global growth, higher interest rates and a greater degree of macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Growth still remains on the agenda, he reiterated.
The company had $122m in cash at year-end.
Already this year, it has increased several loan facilities by $55m.
“We have a strong and robust balance sheet and our access to attractively priced capital remains intact,” Rode said.
Net profit for the fourth quarter was $21.1m, against $17.9m in 2021, while revenue grew to $55.4m from $47.4m.
Net profit for the whole of 2022 was $91.2m.
The Ebitda charter backlog stood at $3.8bn on 31 December.
