Norwegian shipowner AMSC said its board agreed to pay $170m to shareholders after it closed a deal to sell its fleet of Jones Act-qualified tankers to Maritime Partners.
The Oslo-listed company, which announced in August that it sold 10 US-flagged product tankers to the New Orleans leasing giant in a transaction worth $747m, announced the board decision on Thursday, a day after the transaction was successfully completed.
The sale covered its entire American Tanker Holding Co subsidiary, including bareboat contracts, secured debt, unsecured bonds and the US corporate structure.
Shortly after announcing the agreement, the company said it would continue paying regular dividends and a special distribution of NOK 25.10 ($2.35) to its investors.
The company said on Wednesday that that payout will take place “as soon as practically possible”.
When AMSC announced the deal, the company said the sale to US-based Maritime Partners would generate nearly $250m for the Norwegian company.
The transaction leaves it with a single ship, the 178-loa offshore construction vessel Normand Maximus (built 2016).
For Maritime Partners, best known as a lessor of tugs and barges, purchasing the 10 ships was part of a significant push into Jones Act tanker ownership.
Shortly after the acquisition, the company also snapped up US Marine Management from AP Moller-Maersk’s US subsidiary Maersk Line Ltd.
That deal included a fleet of five US-flagged vessels: one owned maritime support vessel, three owned tankers and a bareboat-chartered tanker.
