Seaspan to purchase a fleet of four eco-modern containerships
Seaspan Corporation ("Seaspan") has announced that it has agreed to purchase a fleet of four containerships (the "Acquired Vessels") for approximately $367 million in cash.
The purchase of the Acquired Vessels is expected to be financed from additional borrowings as well as cash on hand. Seaspan expects to take delivery of the Acquired Vessels during March and April 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Seaspan's earnings per diluted share.
The Acquired Vessels are comprised of four 12,000 TEU vessels, with three built in 2018 and one built in 2017, which will operate under long-term time charters with a leading global liner. Pro-forma for this acquisition, Seaspan's global fleet exceeds one million TEU at 123 vessels and 1,023,000 TEU1, bringing the total contracted revenue to $4.6 billion with a weighted average remaining lease period of approximately 4.2 years. Seaspan continues to be the market leading independent owner and operator of containerships, with pro forma market share of approximately 7.9% of the global fleet2.
Top 10 Containership Lessors by Size of Fleet (TEU in thousands)(2) (CNW Group/Seaspan Corporation)
Bing Chen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented:
"I am proud of the Seaspan Team's consistent focus on creative customer partnerships, while taking our capital allocation competencies to the next level. Not only have we further enhanced our scale, flexibility and efficiency, but more importantly strengthened Seaspan's role as the solutions provider to all parties involved. I am confident that more creative opportunities will arise as we broaden and deepen these partnerships.
The acquisition of four high-quality, young, sizeable, eco-modern vessels marks our eleventh containership acquisition in the past five months, in aggregate adding approximately 117,000 TEU to our global fleet, which now exceeds one million TEU. With our unique business model backed by a strong balance sheet and robust cash flow, we will accelerate sustainable value creation through executing high-quality growth opportunities, as well as continue to be the trusted and preferred partner for our leading global liner customers."
Ryan Courson, Chief Financial Officer, added:
"This strategic acquisition further demonstrates our ability to source and execute large-scale investments at high rates of return on invested capital. With this transaction, we will have deployed over $2.6 billion of capital across our shipping portfolio since 2018, meaningfully improving Seaspan's returns and increasing long-term contracted cash-flows to $4.6 billion.
Through these $2.6 billion of investments, we remain committed to a strong credit profile, balance sheet and access to liquidity while providing a best-in-class cost of capital to our portfolio via innovative financing structures. Our stakeholders can continue to expect a disciplined approach in our capital allocation decisions as we relentlessly seek additional high return, low risk, strategic growth opportunities that meet our qualitative and quantitative investment criteria."