For the second time in four months, Hoegh Autoliners revealed at a single stroke one ship sale and one purchase.
The Oslo-listed company announced on Tuesday it has agreed to offload the 6,000-ceu Hoegh Chiba (built 2006) for $61m.
In a separate deal, Hoegh exercised an option to buy in September the 6,500-ceu Hoegh Jeddah (built 2014) from its financial owners Ocean Yield, at a price of $43.2m.
“The transactions represent good opportunities for us to further optimise our asset portfolio in preparation of the first Aurora delivery in August,” the company’s chief executive officer Andreas Enger said.
The Aurora refers to a newbuilding pipeline of 12 alternative-fuel capable vessels that the company has under construction.
The buyer of the Hoegh Chiba was not revealed.
This is the second vessel sold by Hoegh since 30 October, when the company divested the somewhat older but bigger 6,500-ceu Hoegh Bangkok (built 2007) for $63m.
The Hoegh Bangkok is now trading as the Jiuyang Blossom in the fleet of China’s Huayang Maritime Center (HMC), which likely bought the ship with the financial help of the Bank of Communications Financial Leasing.
HMC bought the only other vehicle carrier it has from Hoegh as well — the 4,300-ceu Hoegh Kunsan (renamed Jiuyang Fortune, built 1996), which changed hands between the two companies nearly four years ago.
As for the vessel that Hoegh Autoliners agreed to buy on Tuesday — the Hoegh Jeddah — the company estimates that its average market value as of 31 December stood at $91m.
Hoegh “intends to finance the purchase price fully by mortgage debt through its fleet credit facility,” Enger said.
The other ship Hoegh Autoliners declared a purchase option on back in October was the 6,500-ceu Hoegh Jacksonville (built 2014) — again from Ocean Yield and at the same price as the Hoegh Jeddah, at $43.2m.
