Shipping firm United Maritime has signed agreements with unaffiliated third parties to acquire four tanker vessels for an aggregate price of $79.5m.
The move comes just days after the company completed its spin-off from Seanergy Maritime Holdings.
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The acquisition includes two 114,000-deadweight ton (dwt) Aframax oil tankers and two 109,000dwt LR2 product tankers.
The two Aframax crude tankers were built in 2006 in South Korea, while the product tankers were built in Chinese yards.
According to a company statement, the vessels will be promptly delivered to United Maritime.
United Maritime chairman and CEO Stamatis Tsantanis said: “We are very pleased to announce this initial milestone transaction for United, which marks the company’s diversification into petroleum oil tankers and grows our fleet to almost 620,000dwt.
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By GlobalData“We expect this to prove a highly accretive acquisition for the company considering the recent appreciation in tanker values. As previously stated, our intention is for United to pursue a diversified business model, by taking advantage of attractive opportunities in sectors with strong fundamentals.
“The bullish outlook of the tanker sector, supported by low fleet growth and the steadily recovering demand for oil and refined petroleum products, makes this initial transaction an ideal fit for United.”
United Maritime will fund the acquisition with cash on hand and proceeds received from committed credit facilities.
This includes $5m from parent company Seanergy, which will buy an additional 5,000 of United’s Series C Preferred Shares.
Existing lender M/V Gloriuship has also committed to provide a $63.6m credit facility with a term of 18 months.
The remaining portion of the purchase will be funded with a $14m loan facility from the same lender, following an agreement to refinance a loan with $4.95m currently outstanding.
