James Fisher buys FT Everard

James Fisher, the UK-based ship owner and marine service provider, has acquired product tanker owner FT Everard for £23.7M ($46.6M) in a move that will boost Fisher's fleet and generate "strong and reliable cash flows over the medium term". In a statement this morning, James Fisher said the acquisition would enable the company to build its fleet of modern double-hulled clean petroleum product carriers, bring the Everard ships into the tonnage tax regime and fund the continued growth of James Fisher's marine support services division. The acquisition will bring overhead savings and operating and sales synergies, while providing the opportunity to reduce financial gearing through sale and charter-back deals involving a number of vessels. Two Everard ships, the 1981-built Allurity and Arduity, and one James Fisher tanker, the 1983-built Severn Fisher, are to be sold; the Everard fleet is to be boosted by delivery of two further newbuildings, the 4,433-dwt Superiority and Supremity (delivery by Qingshan Shipyard in Wuhan, China, expected in 1H07), and the time chartered Vedrey Tora and Vedrey Thor will be delivered in mid-2007. On completion of the acquisition, brothers Michael and William Everard are to join the board of James Fisher.