Safe Bulkers has continued to tweak its repayment schedules by amending its loan with DVB Bank, under which $101.2m is still outstanding.
The amended schedule will halt repayments until 2019, when Safe Bulkers will begin making slightly higher annual repayments than included in the previous schedule, with a balloon payment of $65.2m due in 2021.
To remain in compliance with the amended loan covenant, Safe Bulkers’ total consolidated liabilities must not exceed 90% when divided by its total consolidated assets (including charters) until the end of 2017 and 85% from 2018 onwards.
Safe Bulkers’ consolidated net worth is waived until the end of 2017, subject to the company maintaining a minimum fleet of 30 vessels and not less than $150m in total consolidated liabilities from 2018 onwards.
“The agreement with DVB is the third in a row which provides for alignment of financial covenants and deferral of about $10.5m of debt originally payable until 2018, prorate to years after 2019. With this agreement, the amended facilities represent about 51% of our debt, excluding sale and lease-back financing arrangements and debt from state institutions,” explained Dr. Loukas Barmparis, president of the NYSE-listed company.
The ratio of the company’s EBITDA to its interest expense must also not be less than 2:1 on a trailing 12-month basis from 2018 onwards.
This is the eighth time Safe Bulkers has amended loan facilities with its lenders order “to maintain a comfortable debt repayment profile, at very competitive costs”, as Barmparis stated previously.
