Singapore-based Grindrod Shipping is going to enter into a $10.3m financing agreement with a Japanese shipowner for its 2011-built handysize bulker IVS Magpie.
Under the deal, the company will sell the vessel to the Japanese owner and charter it back for a period of 12 years with the option to re-acquire the vessel from the end of the second year of the charter.
The vessel is part of the security package for the company’s $100m senior secured credit facility and will be released from the security package following the completion of the transaction.
Grindrod Shipping expects the deal to take place in November and the sale will generate around $5.4m of cash for the company after settling the debt associated with the vessel.
Earlier this year, the company completed similar financing deals for two vessels, IVS Knot and IVS Kinglet.
Additionally, the company agreed to extend the charter period of the 2014-built supramax vessel IVS Crimson Creek with its owner by 15-17 months at revised rate structure.
Grindrod’s dry bulk business, which operates under the brand Island View Shipping, has a fleet of 17 handysize drybulk carriers and 15 supramax/ultramax drybulk carriers on the water with two chartered-in ultramax drybulk carriers under construction in Japan due be delivered in 2020.
