Norway’s Edda Wind has almost completed financing its fleet of 14 offshore wind vessels with a new €161m ($176.5m) green term loan facility.
The deal covers pre- and post-delivery funding for the four commissioning service operation vessels (CSOV) ordered in March at Vard in Norway.
Credit Agricole, Danske Bank, DNB Bank and SpareBank 1 SR-Bank are the lenders.
The finance expires in 2029.
“The facility corresponds to a leverage ratio of 60% of the ready-for-sea cost of the vessels,” Edda Wind said.
The company was formed by Ostensjo Rederi and has since attracted investment from Wilhelmsen Group, John Fredriksen and Idan Ofer.
The first two new vessels are due in the first quarter of 2025, the third in the second quarter and the last in the first three months of 2026.
Edda Wind is paying €63m per ship and has secured options for up to four more vessels, which will also be handed over in 2025 and 2026.
The whole series would amount to a spend of $536m.
“Following this agreement, 13 of the 14 vessels in our fleet have secured long-term financing and we expect to finalise the debt financing of the remaining vessel in 2024 once we have reached relevant yard milestones,” chief executive Kenneth Walland said.
More than €400m raised
“By this facility, Edda Wind has raised in excess of €400m in capital during 2023 for our newbuilding programme.”
Tycoon Fredriksen became the second-biggest shareholder earlier this year after buying 2m more shares, giving him a stake of nearly 21%.
Fredriksen first bought into the shipowner during its Oslo IPO in 2021.
He and Singapore-based shipowner Idan Ofer acquired about 12% each.
