Euronav has signed a new $410 million senior secured amortizing revolving credit facility in order to refinance 11 VLCCs as well as Euronav’s general corporate and working capital purposes.
The new facility, which refinances a $500 million senior secured credit facility from 2014, matures in January 2023 and is at a rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 2.25%.
Hugo De Stoop, CFO of Euronav, commented: “This new facility will provide a lot of flexibility for Euronav. It is a full revolving credit facility replacing a term loan, it has a lower margin (50 bps lower) than the facility it is refinancing, and it has a much longer maturity. The leverage is also more attractive and provides additional liquidity to the company. We believe that in today’s market bank loans are the best way to create shareholder’s value for the long term. The margin, the structure and the fact that it was 2.2 times oversubscribed are a token of our solid relationship with a stable group of supporting lenders.”
Nordea Bank led the facility and acted as coordinator with the mandated lead arrangers ABN AMRO Bank, Danish Ship Finance, DNB (UK), ING Bank, Nordea Bank Norge and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
This facility will be secured by VLCCs Nectar (2008), Ilma (2012), Iris (2012), Nautic (2008), Sara (2011), Sonia (2012), Sandra (2011), Ingrid (2012), Newton (2009), Noble (2008), and Simone (2012).
Yesterday, Euronav entered into a five-year sale and leaseback agreement for four VLCC vessels with investment vehicles advised by Wafra Capital Partners, a Kuwaiti backed private equity partnership. The transaction assumes a net en-bloc purchase price of $186m.
