Synergy Marine has sold four 4,250-teu containers to Euroseas for a total of $40m
Source: Tradewinds By Dale Wainwright
Andreas Papathomas-owned Synergy Marine has sold four 4,250-teu containers to Euroseas for a total of $40m, it has been confirmed.
The ships are the Synergy Antwerp (built 2008) and the Synergy Busan, Synergy Oakland and Synergy Keelung (all built 2009).
Euroseas said it will fund the acquisition by a combination of bank debt, existing company funds and $6m raised in private placements.
As part of the deal, it has agreed to acquire “certain management services” of Synergy Marine for the next three years.
The transaction has seen Papathomas join the board of the Nasdaq-listed shipowner, which has also agreed to issue an additional $500,000 in shares to Synergy if certain conditions are fulfilled in one year.
One of the vessels was delivered to Euroseas on Monday, while the remaining three are expected to be delivered within a week subject to certain closing conditions being met.
The private placements of $6 million of common stock are subscribed equally by Synergy Holdings Limited and Aristides Pittas’ Eurobulk Marine Holdings.
As the result, Euroseas has issued around 8.45 million new shares at 71 US cents per share representing about 19% of the company’s ownership after the acquisition.
Fearnley Project Finance AS acted as an advisor in the transaction.
Euroseas believes that the addition of the four vessels will add in excess of $5 million to its ebitda over the next 12 months and reduce the average age of its fleet by about two years.
Euroseas chief executive Aristides Pittas described the latest deal as “significant” for the company as it takes a “meaningful presence” in the panamax markets.
“The transaction validates our strategy to become the only publicly listed platform to consolidate feeder and intermediate containerships,” he said.
Pittas said he “remains optimistic” about the prospects of the feeder and intermediate containership markets due to “favorable supply developments” and provided that trade demand growth does not falter because of trade uncertainties related to US-China trade tensions.