Norwegian shipowner Ocean Yield has bolstered its earnings power by buying two suezmaxes from Euronav.
Ocean Yield, controlled by US private equity giant KKR, said the 158,000-dwt Cypress and Cedar (both built 2022) will be bareboat-chartered back to their former owner over 14 years.
This will add $250m to Ocean Yield’s Ebitda backlog.
The lease financing is sustainability-linked, but Ocean Yield did not reveal a purchase price.
The bareboat charter rates will have a variable element linked to the vessels’ actual carbon emissions, which will “incentivise” Euronav to keep emissions low.
Euronav is obliged to buy the tankers back at the end of the period.
The vessels, built at Daehan Shipbuilding in South Korea, will be delivered in the fourth quarter.
The ships are among the youngest in Euronav's fleet.
VesselsValue assesses the pair as worth around $85m each.
They were picked up as resales from Yasa Shipping of Turkey in early 2021 at $56m each.
Nordic American Tankers suezmax acquired
Last month, Ocean Yield said it was financing another suezmax tanker owned by Nordic American Tankers (NAT).
It snapped up a 2016-built million-barrel ship for bareboat charter back to US-listed NAT over eight years.
A price has not been revealed.
The ship is the 158,600-dwt Cherokee (built 2016), which NAT had just agreed to buy from Greece’s CM Lemos for $72m.
Ocean Yield confirmed to TradeWinds that the deal is for NAT’s new tanker, without naming it.
