Tanker player Euronav said on Thursday it was booking a $23m capital gain by selling and leasing back three large tankers to Taiping & Sinopec Financial Leasing.

The deal concerns the 307,300-dwt sisterships Nautica, Nectar and Noble (all built 2008), the Antwerp-based firm announced in a statement.

The vessels were sold for a net $126m in total and were delivered to their new owners earlier this week, on 30 December.