Cool Company and Huaxia Financial Leasing Co. entered sale and leaseback financing arrangements for the Kool Tiger and Kool Panther newbuild vessels scheduled to deliver to CoolCo in the second half of 2024 from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in Korea.
Reference is made to the press release published by CoolCo on June 28, 2023 regarding the announcement that the company had exercised its option to acquire the newbuild vessels and had received a commitment for the related debt financing.
The sale and leasebacks are on a fixed rate per day basis for 10 years, with an implied interest rate just under 6% and a minimum loan-to-value of 80%, with potential for additional capacity contingent upon the terms of the charter employment that CoolCo anticipates securing in advance of the vessels’ deliveries.
With the sale and leasebacks now in place, CoolCo has fully financed the two MEGA LNG Carrier newbuilds.
“We are pleased to have established this important relationship with Huaxia Financial Leasing and look forward to working closely with them over the long term,” John Boots, CFO, CoolCo, said. “Having completed the financing of these two state-of-the-art, 2-stroke MEGA LNG Carrier newbuilds, this materially strengthens CoolCo’s future cashflow potential and strategic capabilities in a non-dilutive manner that clearly benefits our shareholders. The combination of our robust financial position and a substantial backlog in charters provides us with considerable flexibility, both commercially and financially, enabling us to further grow the company. We believe that the near- and long-term opportunities in the LNG transportation market are substantial, supported by an increased emphasis on energy security and the dramatic expansion of global LNG production currently underway. Our pure-play fleet of modern LNG carriers positions CoolCo and our shareholders to be long-term beneficiaries of these durable trends.”
