18th Dec 2007 07:00
Hellenic Carriers Limited18 December 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Vessel Acquisition HELLENIC CARRIERS ACQUIRES A PANAMAX BULK CARRIER EXPANDING ITS FLEET TO SIXVESSELS Press Release 18 December 2007 Hellenic Carriers Limited, ("Hellenic" or the "Company") (AIM: HCL), aninternational provider of marine transportation services for dry bulk cargoes,today announces that it has entered into an agreement with an unaffiliated thirdparty to acquire the 1997-built 74,000 dwt Panamax bulk carrier built inTsuneishi, Japan, M/V Orchid Star, charter free, for a purchase price of US$70.0million. In addition, the Company expects to invest up to a total of US$0.5million to upgrade certain aspects of the vessel in advance of its nextscheduled intermediate survey, which is expected to occur by mid-2010. Thevessel is expected to be delivered between March and May 2008. Upon completion of this acquisition, Hellenic's fleet will comprise a total ofsix modern dry bulk carriers, consisting of four Panamaxes, one Supramax and oneHandymax, with an average age of approximately 12.7 years as at December 17,2007 and with a total carrying capacity of 372,761 dwt. The Supramax (a largerHandymax vessel) is scheduled for delivery between 1 March and 30 April 2008.All five vessels in Hellenic's current trading fleet, including the Supramax tobe delivered, operate under medium and long term period charters with thecurrent charter coverage for 2008 at 66% of the available days. Fotini Karamanlis, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Hellenic Carriers hassecured additional tonnage with its acquisition of a 1997-built Panamax bulkcarrier. The Orchid Star is the most recent addition to Hellenic's fleet and thefirst vessel acquired by Hellenic after our Initial Public Offering at theend of November 2007, bringing the fleet to a total of 6 ships. This acquisitionis consistent with the Company's fleet expansion strategy within the Panamax andHandymax sectors. We are especially pleased to add a further Panamax to ourfleet at a competitive and attractive price compared to recent reported sales ofsimilar tonnage. We intend to finance this acquisition with a combination offunds raised from the Initial Public Offering and bank debt. We note that this addition comes at a time of limited supply of modern, charterfree, second hand dry bulk tonnage with early delivery, due to the buoyantfreight market enjoyed in the dry bulk sector. We also note that 3 of our 6ships will be coming open for employment within the next 4 to 5 months, thusincreasing our operating leverage and giving us the opportunity to fix theseships at stronger rates than those that they are currently at. We expect this acquisition to have the potential to further enhance our revenueand cash flow generation capacity which in turn will allow us to pay attractivedividends to our shareholders." For further information please contact: Hellenic Carriers LimitedFotini Karamanlis, Chief Executive OfficerE-mail: [email protected] +30 210 455 8900 Jefferies International LimitedNick Davies +44 20 7029 8000Schuyler Evans Capital LinkNatassa Markopoulou +44 20 7614 2950E-Mail: [email protected] The Fleet Deployment of Hellenic is as follows: Vessel Type Year Yard Carrying Charter T/C Daily Built Capacity Type Expiration Charter Date 1 Rate US$ (dwt) (Gross) M/V Hellenic Panamax 1993 Tsuneishi 69,601 T/C 10/03/2008 45,000 Breeze Shipbuilding, JapanM/V Hellenic Sky Panamax 1994 Sasebo Heavy 68,591 T/C 27/11/2008 23,000 Industries, JapanM/V Hellenic Sea Panamax 1991 Jiangnan 65,434 T/C 30/05/2009 37,500 Shipyard, China M/V Hellenic Handymax 1995 Halla 44,809 T/C 20/04/2008 25,750 Horizon Engineering & Heavy Industries, Korea To be delivered Vessel Type Year Yard Carrying Charter T/C Daily Delivery Built Capacity Type Expiration Charter Date Date 1 Rate US$ (dwt) (Gross)M/V Aegean Hawk, Supramax 2000 Mitsui 50,326 T/C 30/06/2010 64,250(2) 1 March to be Engineering & 2008 renamed M/V Shipbuilding, - Konstantinos D Japan 30 April 2008M/V Orchid Star, Panamax 1997 Tsuneishi, 74,000 N/A N/A N/A 1 March to be renamed Shipbuilding, 2008 Japan - 31 May 2008 Total Fleet: 6 Vessels 372,761 (1) The latest charter expiration date represents the last day on which thecharterer may redeliver the vessel to us upon the termination of the charterassuming that all options for additional hire periods under our charter areexercised. (2) For the period from the date of delivery to the 365th day of the charterand thereafter at a rate of US$48,250 per day. Further Information - Notes to Editors About Hellenic Carriers Limited Hellenic Carriers Limited owns and operates a fleet of dry bulk vessels thattransport iron ore, coal, grain, steel products, cement, alumina, and other drybulk cargoes worldwide. Its current fleet consists of four vessels, comprisingthree Panamaxes and one Handymax. The Company has also contracted to acquire aSupramax vessel with expected delivery between 1 March and 30 April 2008 and aPanamax vessel with expected delivery between 1 March and May 31 2008. Includingthe new Supramax and Panamax vessels to be delivered, Hellenic's fleet has anaggregate carrying capacity of 372,761 dwt and an average age of 12.7 years asat 17 December, 2007. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
HCL.L