Norway's Ocean Yield has agreed a deal to sell its costly and unwanted floating production storage and offloading vessel to major shareholder Kjell Inge Rokke as part of the company's takeover by US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).
The Oslo-listed shipowner said on Monday that KKR is launching a cash offer worth $829.5m for the sale-and-leaseback specialist.
Rokke's Aker Capital is selling its 61.65% stake but the tycoon's Aker Energy has "for some time" been in talks over acquiring the laid-up 214,266-cbm Dhirubhai-1 (built 1979), Ocean Yield revealed.
Aker Energy wants to use the FPSO for the development and commercialisation of the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block offshore Ghana.
The Rokke company has now been granted an option to acquire the unit for $35m, exercisable up to 16 days before the takeover is completed.
Ocean Yield has been trying to sell or find further employment for the unit since it came off charter to Reliance in India in 2018.
Aker Energy has already paid Ocean Yield $17.9m as compensation for "certain prior options" related to the FPSO, as well as certain other services.
The total investment by Aker Energy in securing the FPSO will as a result be $52.9m.
If Aker Energy declares the purchase option at $35m, KKR's offer price will rise to NOK 41.74 ($4.81) per share, from NOK 41 currently.
The book value of the unit is $51.3m.
Earlier this year, Ocean Yield said its subsidiary Aker Contracting had received a notice from Indian authorities regarding a potential tax claim related to a previous contract for the FPSO.
The size of any potential claim has not been made public.
Tankers to be taken over
Ocean Yield also said the KKR transaction includes a sale of its 50% stake in joint venture OY Holding LR2 with Aker Capital.
The venture owns four LR2 product tankers with long-term charters to Navig8 Group.
Aker Capital is also selling its 50% holding to KKR for $5.1m.
The US private equity group manages $38bn of assets.
DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank, is acting as financial advisor to Ocean Yield, while Arctic Securities is advising KKR.
