Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE: ASC) gathered a small head of steam on today’s announcement that it has agreed terms for the sale of three 2008-built MR product tankers to Leonhardt & Blumberg for an aggregate price of $40 million.
Following completion of the sales and the prepayment of financing associated with the vessels, the transaction will generate net cash of approximately $15 million to Ardmore, which will be used for general corporate purposes.
Immediately following the completion of the sales, which are expected to take place in the second quarter, Ardmore will time charter each vessel from Leonhardt & Blumberg for a minimum of two years. Completion of each of the vessel sales is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including, for one vessel, a proposed closing date currently in advance of the current purchase lease option exercise date for that vessel.
CEO Anthony Gurnee commented,
"We are very pleased to work with Leonhardt & Blumberg for a sale and charter-back on three of our MR tankers. The sale is consistent with Ardmore's capital allocation policy while also maintaining our commercial scale and earnings upside.
Ardmore owns and operates a fleet of MR product and chemical tankers ranging from 25,000 to 50,000 deadweight tonnes. Ardmore provides seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide to oil majors, national oil companies, oil and chemical traders, and chemical companies, with its modern, fuel-efficient fleet of mid-size tankers
ASC shares inched up 12 cents, or 2.5%, to $4.71.
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