New York-listed Teekay Tankers is reported to have sold a 17-year-old aframax tanker for $24.75m.
The Teekay Corp spin-off has offloaded the 114,800-dwt Matterhorn Spirit (built 2005), one of the oldest tankers in its fleet, brokers reported. Teekay has been approached for comment.
The buyers are unknown, although some reports place them in the United Arab Emirates.
The sale price reflects a continued run-up in tanker values ahead of an expected market recovery, reflected in part by comparison to earlier Teekay Tankers sales.
For example, Teekay announced with earnings in May that it had sold an unnamed 2015-built aframax for $15m.
TradeWinds reported on 4 May that Teekay Tankers’ 115,500-dwt Helga Spirit (built 2005) was sold earlier in the year for $17.5m.
The Vancouver-based shipowner also sold two 2004-built aframaxes in December and March for just over $13m each.
Prior to the Matterhorn Spirit reports, Teekay Tankers owned 26 crude and product tankers built in 2010 and earlier — which chief executive Kevin Mackay touted as “massive cash-generation machines”.
Mackay was asked at Teekay’’ last earnings call whether it would continue to sell older assets.
“Is there maybe recognition of value that the market is not recognising with where valuation is today that you’d say, ‘OK, well, I could do that if it makes more sense for the equity holders to show them where the market values are,’” asked equity analyst Ken Hoexter of Bank of America.
Mackay said then that Teekay was not actively looking to sell tonnage but keeping its eyes open.
“I think we look at sale-and-purchase deals on a stand-alone basis. And each deal is determined in terms of what’s the best value we can generate for shareholders,” the chief executive said.
“So obviously, asset prices are high, and you’ve seen us take advantage of that selling some of the older ships that we had that were due for dry docking. We’ve eliminated that expense and monetized those assets for what we’ve got left in the fleet.”
Teekay Tankers posted a first-quarter loss of $13.9m, or a loss of $0.41 per share, better than the $0.68-per-share loss analysts had expected.
