Cool Company Ltd. and Huaxia Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. Agree Sale and Leaseback Financing for Newbuild Vessels
October 18 2023 - 3:05PM
Business Wire
Completes Debt Financing for the Two Previously
Announced Newbuilds Delivering 2H 2024
Cool Company Ltd. (NYSE: CLCO / CLCO.OL) (“CoolCo” or “the
Company”) and Huaxia Financial Leasing Co. Ltd. today announced
that they had entered into sale and leaseback financing
arrangements (the “Sale and Leasebacks”) 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.
John Boots, CFO, commented:
“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. 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.”
ABOUT COOLCO
CoolCo is an LNG Carrier pure play with a balanced portfolio of
short and longer-term charters, the cash flows from which form the
basis of the Company’s quarterly dividend for common shareholders.
In addition to the built-in and funded growth from two newbuilds
scheduled to deliver in the second half of 2024, CoolCo’s strategy
includes ongoing assessment of opportunities for vessel
acquisitions and potential consolidation in a fragmented market
segment. Through its in-house vessel management platform, CoolCo
manages and operates its LNG transportation and infrastructure
assets for a range of the world’s leading companies in addition to
providing such services to third parties. CoolCo benefits from the
scale and stature of Eastern Pacific Shipping and its affiliates,
encompassing CoolCo’s largest shareholder and the owner of one of
the world’s largest independent shipping fleets, which strengthen
the Company’s strategic position with regard to shipyards,
financial institutions, and access to dealflow. CoolCo supports the
world’s decarbonization and energy security needs and has stated
its intention to reduce its emissions by 10-15% through its LNGe
upgrade program, as part of a fleet-wide improvement target of 35%
between 2019 and 2030.
Additional information about CoolCo can be found at
www.coolcoltd.com.
ABOUT HUAXIA FINANCIAL LEASING CO., LTD
Huaxia Financial Leasing Co., Ltd (“HXFL”) is subsidiary
and the leasing arm of Hua Xia Bank Co., Ltd., which is approved by
Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. HXFL’s
business ecology is multi-faceted, covering fields such as
environmental protection, energy source, electric power,
transportation, equipment manufacturing, medical treatment,
communications, aviation and shipping. HXFL is deeply engaged in
renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy and bio energy.
HXFL intends to build a green leasing brand cored with green
energy, green transportation, pollution control and the circular
economy.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements with respect to the charter of the
newbuilds, cashflow, the LNG market and production, delivery dates
of newbuilds, our aspirations to make opportunistic acquisitions
and pursue consolidation opportunities, our competitive strengths
with regard to shipyards, financial institutions and access to
dealflow, our goals to reduce carbon emissions and any expected
performance of our LNGe upgrade program, emissions reduction and
improvement targets and other non-historical statements.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or
phrases, such as “about”, “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “goal,”
“target,” “strategy,” and similar expressions or future or
conditional verbs such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” and
“could.” These statements are based on current expectations,
estimates, assumptions and projections and you should not place
undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee
future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. There are
important factors that could cause our actual results, level of
activity, performance, liquidity or achievements to differ
materially from the ones expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements including risks relating to the LNG and
financial market conditions. These risks and uncertainties include
risks relating to the Sale and Leasebacks, future industry
conditions and other risks indicated in the risk factors included
in CoolCo’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December
31, 2022 and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. These forward-looking statements are made only as of
the date of this document. We do not undertake to update or revise
the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
This announcement is subject to the disclosure requirements
pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
and the requirements under the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This
announcement was published by Johannes Boots, CFO of Cool Company
Ltd, at the date and time set out above.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231018066672/en/
For more information, questions should be directed to: c/o Cool
Company Ltd - +44 207 659 1111 / ir@coolcoltd.com
Richard Tyrrell - Chief Executive Officer John Boots - Chief
Financial Officer
Cool (NYSE:CLCO)
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