Seanergy Maritime Holdings has successfully completed the refinancing of a loan facility secured by 2010-built capesizes Lordship and Knightship.
The loan attached to the vessels, acquired by Seanergy in 2016, were set to mature in 2019.
Seanergy has secured a sale and leaseback on the Knightship with China’s AVIC International Leasing, chartering the vessel back on bareboat for a period of eight years. It has the option to repurchase the vessel at any time after year two and is obligated to repurchase it at the end of the charter.
Lordship was refinanced via a senior secured loan facility from the Blue Ocean fund managed by EnTrustPermal. The earliest maturity date of the facility is in 2023 and can be extended until 2025.
The deals have resulted in a capital release in excess of $10m.
Stamatis Tsantanis, chairman and CEO of Seanergy, commented: “I am very pleased to announce these milestone transactions for our Company that are significantly enhancing our liquidity position. We achieved the $10 million capital release while maintaining the operation of the vessels at lower break-even rates at a time when the market fundamentals are improving considerably. In addition, our Company is now considered one of AVIC’s key business partners in the maritime industry which creates significant business development opportunities in China. In addition, the two refinancings will support future cash flow generation through the extension of the underlying debt maturities. The released capital from the two refinancings may be used for additional vessel acquisitions and for general working capital purposes.”
