Germany’s Leonhardt & Blumberg is getting into tankers after a $40m sale-and-leaseback deal with Ardmore Shipping.
The Irish tanker owner on Monday announced the deal, involving three 2008-built MR tankers, which will see it take the ships back on charter for two years.
The company said it would free up $15m to be used for general corporate purposes.
“The sale is consistent with Ardmore’s capital allocation policy while also maintaining our commercial scale and earnings upside,” Ardmore chief executive Anthony Gurnee said in a statement.
“Leonhardt & Blumberg is a world-class private shipping group and an excellent industry partner for Ardmore Shipping, and we look forward to working with them on future potential business opportunities.”
Ardmore did not name the ships, but they fit the description of the 47,451-dwt Ardmore Sealancer, 47,472-dwt Ardmore Sealeader and 47,643-dwt Ardmore Sealifter (all built 2008) and those three ships are listed on Leonhardt & Blumberg’s website as the Hansa Sealancer, Hansa Sealeader and Hansa Sealifter.
The ships still have their Ardmore names, according to shipping databases.
The Ardmore Sealeader is worth $12.8m, the Ardmore Sealancer $12.5m and the Ardmore Sealifter $12.6m, according to valuation service VesselsValue.
Including the tankers, Leonhardt & Blumberg lists 38 ships in its fleet, all but three of them container ships.
Leonhardt & Blumberg managing director Torben Kolln said the company had been looking at other segments within shipping “for quite some time” in an effort to diversify its fleet.
“On this project, all our requirements are fulfilled: The timing, the market sentiment, the right assets and the right partner,” Kolln said.
“Ardmore Shipping enjoys the highest reputation within the tanker industry and has the same philosophy on topics such as operational efficiency, customer relations and environmental and social responsibility. We look very much forward to working together.”
Admore’s New York-listed shares were up a nickel around lunchtime, rising to $4.64.
On Monday, the Baltic Clean Tanker Index continued to slide, falling 12 points to 905.
The Index, which rallied following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, remains at levels not seen in nearly two years.
Meanwhile, MR time charter equivalents in both oceans rose, with tankers in the Atlantic rising $2,474 to $31,657 per day and $79 to $20,031 per day in the Pacific.
