Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NAT) - (NYSE: NAT) Announces Vessel Acquisition
January 21 2005 - 8:28AM
PR Newswire (US)
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NAT) - (NYSE: NAT) Announces
Vessel Acquisition HAMILTON, Bermuda, Jan. 21
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the
"Company") today announced that the Company has agreed to acquire a
double hull suezmax tanker. The well maintained tanker was built by
a first class yard in the Far East. Following this acquisition, the
Company will have five environmentally friendly modern suezmax oil
tankers. The acquired vessel was built in 1998 and the other four
vessels in the NAT fleet in 1997. All the tankers have double hull.
The Chairman & CEO of NAT, Herbjorn Hansson, commented: "I am
pleased that we have been able to do this business which represents
an important step in the further expansion of our company -- a
process that we expect will continue. This transaction is in line
with the growth strategy of accretive acquisitions to bolster
dividend and earnings per share". The acquisition price for the
ship of USD 68.25m will be financed with a credit facility of USD
300m that the Company has established with an international banking
syndicate. NAT completed the transformation from a financial lease
company into an operating company in mid October 2004, and the
Company has expanded its fleet by two vessels after that point in
time. The Company is expected to take over the acquired ship at the
end of March, whereafter the ship is expected to be employed in the
spot market. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS Matters discussed in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for
forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to
provide prospective information about their business. Forward-
looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives,
goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying
assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements
of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the
safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in
connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe,"
"except," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast,"
"project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect"
"pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release
are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in
turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our
management's examination of historical operating trends, data
contained in our records and other data available from third
parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable
when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to
significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or
impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure
you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs
or projections. In addition to these important factors, other
important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to
differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements include the strength of world economies and currencies,
general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates
and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a
result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and world
wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating
expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs,
the market for our vessels, availability of financing and
refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or
actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from
pending or future litigation, general domestic and international
political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due
to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances
of off-hires and other important factors described from time to
time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F.
Contacts: Scandic American Shipping Ltd Manager for Nordic American
Tanker Shipping Ltd. P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway Tel: + 47
33 42 73 00 E-mail: Web-site: http://www.nat.bm/ Rolf Amundsen
Chief Financial Officer Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. Tel:
+1 800 601 9079 or + 47 908 26 906 Gary J. Wolfe, Esq. Seward &
Kissel LLP, New York, USA Tel: +1 212 574 1223 Herbjorn Hansson
Chairman & CEO Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. Tel: +1 866
805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291 DATASOURCE: Nordic American Tanker
Shipping Ltd. CONTACT: Rolf Amundsen, Chief Financial Officer,
1-800-601-9079, or +47-908-26-906, or Herbjorn Hansson, Chairman
& CEO, 1-866-805-9504, or +47-901-46-291, both of Nordic
American Tanker Shipping Ltd.; or Gary J. Wolfe, Esq. of Seward
& Kissel LLP, +1-212-574-1223, for Nordic American Tanker
Shipping Ltd.
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