London: SEA-Vista, the joint venture between SEACOR Holdings and Avista Capital Partners, has secured a $300m credit facility that it says will be used to expand the business.
“This new credit facility will support the growth and expansion of the company,” Eric Fabrikant, CEO of SEA-Vista, said in a statement today.
The loan facility was secured from a consortium of 11 lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase, and has been split into three tranches.
The first tranche is a $100m revolving credit facility, the second is a term loan of $80m and the third is a $120m delayed draw term loan.
“The credit facility will fund working capital needs, capital commitments under our vessel construction program, the repayment of our outstanding Title XI financing and future growth opportunities,” SEA-Vista said.
The company intends to use a portion of the loans to redeem bonds issued by each of its subsidiaries Lightship Tankers III, Lightship Tankers IV and Lightship Tankers V, which have been secured by mortgages over the Lightship owners’ vessels and security interests in their other assets.
NYSE-listed SEACOR Holdings holds a 51% controlling interest in SEA-Vista, which operates a fleet of owned and leased-in US-flagged product tankers.
Avista Capital Partners agreed to join the joint venture with SEACOR last year, to which the investor contributed $150m.
