First Ship Lease buys second LR2 tanker within a week
First Ship Lease (FSL) Trust has secured a second LR2 product tanker from Torm Singapore, barely a week after the shipping trust took its first LR2. Singapore-listed FSL has agreed to buy the product tanker for $46m, the same price it paid for the first LR2. The 109,672 dwt Torm Marie, sister vessel to Torm Margrethe, is slated to be delivered to FSL within June 2011. Following the completion of the acquisition, Torm Marie will be leased back to Torm on a bareboat charter basis for a lease term of seven years, similar to the terms for Torm Margrethe. “That we are able to conclude this second bareboat charter so soon after tying up the first reflects the market's healthy appetite for alternative forms of shipping finance,” said Vijay Kamath, senior vice president and head of sales of FSL. The latest charter of Torm Marie will be immediately accretive to distributable cash flow per unit and bring FSL's remaining contracted revenue to $635m, excluding extension options. The trust's average remaining lease term will be at 6.7 years, and its fleet portfolio will increase to 25 vessels.