Greece’s Costamare announced on Monday that it used cash in hand and unusually long-term bank debt to buy out joint venture partner York Capital from a quintet of containerships.

Costamare did not identify the value of the transaction or the vessels. The New York-listed containership owner already owned 40% of the ships, and it has now purchased York Capital's 60% stake.

The ships’ description matches the 11,000-teu Cape Tainaro, Cape Kortia, Cape Sounio and Cape Artemisio (all built 2017), as well as the 11,000-teu Cape Akritas (built 2016).

To help finance the deal, New York-listed Costamare assumed commercial bank debt from European and US lenders with a tenor of up to 10 years, which is a rather long duration for a shipping company to achieve.

“The deal provides a successful exit path in this investment for our partner [York Capital],” Costamare chief financial officer Gregory Zikos said in the statement.

York Capital and Costamare had ordered the ships as newbuildings at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines' Subic Bay yard.

All five vessels are on lucrative long-term charters. The Cape Artemision is employed by Hapag-Lloyd through to 2025 at $36,650 per day. The other four ships will start a 10-year charter at $33,000 per day with Mediterranean Shipping Co later this year, when their current employment with Zim expires.

These chartering deals provide Costamare with incremental contracted revenue of about $335m, the company said.

The five ships’ buyout underscores the “excellent” and “ongoing” relationship between York Capital and Costamare, Zikos said.

This is not the first time that York Capital has cashed in on a partnership with the Greek company. Three years ago, Costamare acquired York Capital’s 60% stake in a quintet of large containerships that were jointly ordered by the two firms in 2014. At the time, Costamare paid part of the acquisition price by issuing company stock.

The five ships bought out then were the 14,400-teu Triton, Titan, Talos, Taurus and Theseus (all built 2016). All of them have been since on long-term charters with Evergreen Marine that are to expire in 2026.

Following the two buyouts since 2018, Costamare’s joint venture with York Capital continues with another batch of five, smaller vessels.

Costamare’s total fleet numbers more than 70 vessels with about 560,000 teu of carrying capacity. Over the next few weeks, the company is set to take delivery from Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding of the 12,700-teu YM Tiptop (built 2021).

This is the last in a series of five newbuildings ordered in May 2018 at the Chinese yard, on the back of 10-year employment with Taiwanese charterer Yang Ming Marine Transport.