Seven China-built vessels are to be sold and leased back by Scorpio Bulkers in a deal with a China Merchants Bank-backed leasing house.
CMB Financial Leasing will buy three ultramax and four kamsarmax bulk carriers, which together are worth $150.3m, according to VesselsValue estimates.
Scorpio will bareboat charter-in the vessels for a period of seven years and has purchase options on the ships.
Lauro said in a statement: “We have undertaken a number of initiatives recently to enhance our liquidity.
"This transaction represents a single and important step, but we will continue to take actions which strengthen our balance sheet and, as importantly, address the valuation of our stock.”
The ultramax vessels are the 64,000-dwt SBI Pegasus and SBI Subaru, and the 61,600-dwt SBI Ursa (all built 2015).
The 82,000-dwt kamsars comprise SBI Lambada and SBI Macarena (both built 2016), SBI Carioca and SBI Capoeira (both built 2015).
Scorpio did not disclose the value of the sales or the leasing rates, but said the deal would contribute a total of $57.2m to its liquidity.
Of this $45.4m will be paid when the transaction closes in the second quarter, following repayment of the ships’ outstanding debt.
An additional tranche of up to $11.8m will be paid for installation of scrubbers onboard the seven vessels.
The company's purchase options begin after the third year of each vessel's charter, as well as upon expiration of each contract.
The deal is not an unexpected move by the New York-listed bulker owner - improving its cash position is one of its strategic aims for this quarter.
During its last quarterly earnings call, Scorpio Bulkers executives said they would announce a package of liquidity measures towards this end, including sale and leasebacks and expanded lendings under its senior secured credit facilities.
At the end of February, the company unlocked $6.9m in cash through a sale and leaseback deal with an unnamed counterparty - likely to be Japan-based - for the Japan-built kamsarmax SBI Samba (built 2015).
Sister company Scorpio Tankers has done a number of similar deals with Chinese leasing houses for the purposes of improving its liquidity.
