George Economou’s DryShips have received a firm commitment from ABN Amro and KEXIM for a senior secured credit facility of up to $150m.
The facility, which is subject to definitive documentation, will partly finance four VLGCs the company has on order at South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. DryShips is paying $83.5m for each vessel.
The four vessels are scheduled for delivery from June through to December and are fixed on long term charters.
“We have come a long way since a year ago, when we were in discussions with commercial lenders about the restructuring of our debt. We are pleased that we have put all this behind us and grateful for the support of ABN AMRO and KEXIM in arranging our first bank financing since 2014,” Economou said.
Economou also indicated that DryShips is still on the look out for more vessel acquisitions.
“In dollar terms, assuming a modest 50% leverage of the market value of these assets, this would imply the ability to raise approximately $250 million of additional debt capital. We will now concentrate our efforts on arranging financing for these vessels. This will allow us to focus on further accretive vessel acquisitions without the need to raise further equity,” he added.
