Gulf Marine Services (GMS) has secured a six-year $620m debt facility from a syndicate of lenders, which the London-listed company said will aid its long-term growth.
The new facility is a combination of Islamic and conventional financing, and will replace the group’s existing funding facilities but leave its previous borrowing covenants unchanged.
The Abu Dhabi-based company said the debt facility comprises a $375m term loan, a $175m committed CAPEX facility and $70m for general working capital purposes.
Another $300m uncommitted facility has also been agreed, said GMS, which specialises in providing advanced self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs) to the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors
“The group is pleased to announce this substantial new debt facility, which both extends the maturity of our debt profile and has been achieved with a helpful improvement in the borrowing margins compared to our previous financing arrangements,” Duncan Anderson, CEO of GMS, said in a statement.
“This is testament to the banking community’s confidence in our business model and prospects in the current low oil price environment. We have the right capital structure in place to continue our strategy for delivering long-term growth.”
GMS has undertaken a newbuilding programme that will see 15 new vessels delivered between 20014 and the end of 2016, increasing the fleet size by 66%. The company said the programme comes “in response to continued strong customer demand and an anticipated growing market in the foreseeable future”.
