SIMIC

LONDON's Global Ship Lease (GSL) has announced that it has agreed to purchase and charter back seven 6,000-TEU postpanamax ships with an average age of 20 years for an aggregate purchase price of US$116 million.
The charters are to leading liner operators for a minimum firm period of 36 months each, followed by two one-year extensions at charterer's option. The vessels are expected to generate aggregate adjusted EBITDA of $95 million over 3.1 years.
This, said the company, implies a strongly accretive average Purchase Price / Annual Adjusted EBITDA multiple of 4.0x.
"If all options are exercised, the vessels are expected to generate approximately $126 million of adjusted EBITDA. With these additions, the company's fleet will comprise 50 vessels with a total capacity of 287,280 TEU," said a GSL statement..
The vessels are scheduled for phased delivery during the second and third quarters of 2021, at which time they will be renamed GSL Arcadia, GSL Dorothea, GSL Maria, GSL Melita, GSL MYNY, GSL Tegea and GSL Violetta.
The company expects to pay for the ships with $40 million of cash on hand, with the balance provided by bank debt, said GSL.
"These charters also provide multi-year contracted cash flows. Having completed the refinancing of our 2022 Notes and our recent equity offering, we are squarely focused on executing our accretive growth strategy," said GSL chairman George Youroukos.