Kjell Inge Rokke's Ocean Yield has inked a fresh sale-and-leaseback deal with Okeanis Eco Tankers, which refinances one of the Alafouzos family-backed company's suezmax tankers.
Oslo-listed Ocean Yield has paid $56m for the 157,500-dwt Milos (built 2016), which will be bareboat-chartered back to Okeanis for a period of 13 years.
The purchase price includes a seller's credit of $7m, giving a net purchase price of $49m, which is the amount outstanding under the bareboat lease, Lars Solbakken, Ocean Yield’s chief executive, told TradeWinds on Wednesday.
Analysts at DNB Markets calculate the leveraged rate of return on the investment will be at the upper end of Ocean Yield's 13% to 15% target range.
At the same time they suggest the ship will add $900,000 to Ocean Yield's core operating profit on a quarterly basis.
Okeanis has options to acquire the vessel during the charter period, according to a filing from the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Solbakken would not disclose the options explicitly to TradeWinds, but said they could be exercised during the vessel's "later years".
Milos is a sistership to Poliegos (built 2017), another 157,000-dwt tanker owned by Ocean Yield.
The deal marks the third leaseback agreement between the two companies following transactions for a single suezmax and four VLCCs.
"It is a relationship that we appreciate but there are no formalised agreements, we just do it transaction by transaction," Solbakken said of the evolving partnership between Ocean Yield and Okeanis.
"First we had the Poliegos, then the opportunity with the VLCCs came up and then the Milos," he said.
Okeanis Eco Tankers operates seven tankers, all built between 2015 and 2018, plus eight VLCCs due for delivery in 2019.
The company is focused on vessels with ‘eco’ specifications that have been fitted with scrubbers.
Okeanis raised $100m in a private placement prior to listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange’s Merkur Market in July 2018.
The tanker company has also secured bank debt to help finance its newbuilding programme and raised $45m from a private placement supported by the Alafouzos family in November.
Ocean Yield was an active deal-maker last year, with its purchase of the four Okeanis VLCCs one of several notable transactions.
It also inked dry cargo leasebacks with Carlyle Group-backed Interlink Maritime and Louis Dreyfus, moved for four containerships and closed product tanker deals with Ardmore Shipping.
This article has been updated with comments from Lars Solbakken and DNB Markets.
