BW Group’s Hafnia has put its excess cash to use through a series of vessel buybacks to lower financial costs.
The Oslo-listed giant revealed it has repurchased five product tankers from leases this year.
Purchase options were declared on two MRs, the 49,000-dwt Hafnia Viridian and Hafnia Violette (both built 2015), under an agreement with Jiangsu Financial Leasing Co in China.
VesselsValue assesses the ships as worth $45m each.
Three other smaller handysize ships were bought back from CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping.
The 37,600-dwt Hafnia Alabaster and Hafnia Aragonite (both built 2015) were repurchased last month.
These are valued at $44.85m and $40.6m, respectively.
And on Monday, the owner exercised an option to take back the 37,600-dwt handysize Hafnia Achroite (built 2016), worth $41m.
The five ships have a combined value of around $216m.
Hafnia had $141.6m in cash on its balance sheet on 31 December after a record year for profit.
Earnings came in at $793.3m for 2023, an all-time high for the second year running.
Net profit in the fourth quarter was $176.4m, down from $263.8m in the same period of 2022, when rates were even higher than they are currently.
Revenue was weaker at $472m, compared to $593.6m the year before.
Hafnia has commercial management of more than 200 vessels across eight pools and controls 130 of its own.
