China Development Bank Financial Leasing (CDB Leasing) continues to add LNG tonnage to its fleet following a sale-and-leaseback deal with Dynagas LNG Partners.
The US-listed, George Procopiou-backed shipowner has sold four vessels to the Hong Kong-listed lessor for a total of $477.5m, according to a regulatory filing.
The ships are the 149,700-cbm Clean Energy and Ob River (both built 2007), Amur River (built 2008) and the 155,000-cbm Arctic Aurora (built 2013).
The first three vessels are all steam-driven, while the fourth vessel has a tri-fuel diesel electric propulsion system.
Dynagas LNG Partners has agreed to take the four vessels back on leases of between five and 10 years, according to CDB Leasing.
The Chinese lessor said the lease rate is comprised of lease principal and lease interest, of which the lease principle will be the same amount it paid for the vessels — $477.5m. The total amount of lease interest is expected to be about $130m.
CDB Leasing said the lease principal and lease interest shall be paid by the lessees through quarterly instalments during the lease period.
Dynagas LNG Partners has the option to buy the vessels back for a total of $95m at the end of their lease periods, CDB Leasing said.
The Greek shipowner told investors in March 2024 that it was close to a deal that would refinance the $421m in debt coming due later this year.
Last month CDB Leasing emerged as the buyer of two LNG carriers — the 156,000-dwt tri-fuel diesel-electric WilForce and WilPride (both built 2013) — from Norway’s Awilco LNG.
It paid a total of $200m for the two vessels and agreed to lease the ships back to Awilco LNG for 12 years for total lease payments of $117.8m.
The Awilco LNG deal was CDB Leasing’s first confirmed sale-and-leaseback deal involving ships in more than a year, based on disclosures to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The last ship-related transaction it completed was in March 2023, when it acquired two LNG carriers from Peter Livanos-backed GasLog and GasLog Partners.
It agreed to acquire the 155,000-cbm GasLog Saratoga (built 2014) and GasLog Sydney (built 2013) for a combined total of $284m.
