Lemos family controlled Enesel looks to have secured a lucrative deal with the sale of four container vessels to Ship Finance International in a transaction which sees the private shipowner take an equity stake in the New York-listed company.
John Fredriksen’s Ship Finance International yesterday announced the purchase of four 14,000-teu vessels built in 2014, which are attached to long-term charters.
It told investors the seller, which it did not name, would receive a cash payment alongside four million Ship Finance International shares.
Industry sources tell TradeWinds that Enesel – which has ten container vessels that fit the description provided by Ship Finance - is the other party involved.
They explain this week’s deal is seen as the start of what is expected to be larger relationship between the companies in the future.
The four ships vessels sold to Ship Finance are part of a series of 10 vessels contracted at Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2012 against long term charters with Evergreen.
They are understood to have been ordered at a price of $108m each in what was a landmark shipping transaction that year.
However, sources guide the sale price to be in the region of $460m en bloc, including $60m in Ship Finance International stock – paper which carries a dividend yield of close to 10%.
The figure equates to in the region of $115m for each of the vessels, which have been on a profitable time charter since delivery.
Another key component of the transaction is that Enesel will retain the technical management of the vessels.
Enesel and its London agents NS Lemos will be left with a fleet of 10 container vessels, including the six remaining 14,000-teu ships on charter to Evergreen, and four tankers on the water.
Led by brothers Andonis and Filippos Lemos, the company also has four VLCC newbuildings on order at Hyundai. They were inked last year while prices were in the region of $80m or below.
The deal also looks good from the Ship Finance side, with its contract backlog growing nearly $450m.
"With the Seadrill restructuring behind, SFL remains highly focused on making accretive acquisitions to support higher distributable cash flow (DCF) and dividend growth over the next 18 months," said Magnus Fyhr of Seaport Global.
His comments came as he upgraded the company to buy today.
Ship Finance has now bought 19 container vessels costing around $550m in the past two months.
