FSL Trust adds two oil tankers to leased fleet

FSL Trust adds two oil tankers to leased fleet Singapore-based ship leasing company First Ship Lease said Wednesday it has acquired two product tankers from two affiliates of privately held Groda Shipping and Transportation Ltd. for $113 million.
   'The vessels were concurrently leased back to the sellers for a base lease term of seven years,' FSL Trust said in a statement. 'The sellers will continue to employ the vessels on the basis of a long-term contract with Russian state-controlled energy company OJSC Rosneft Oil Co.'
   The lease agreement contains a purchase option at the expiry of the base lease and a three-year lease extension option for the lessees.
   'We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with affiliates of Groda Shipping,' FSL Trust Chief Executive Officer Philip Clausius said. 'With this transaction, we are diversifying our customer base while adding some very high quality and modern vessels to our portfolio which enjoy long-term contract coverage with a major oil company.
   'We have now achieved $158 million of asset acquisitions in less than eight months since our listing, putting us well ahead of our 12-month acquisition target of $200 million.'
   The acquisition of the two ships was fully funded upon closing by drawing from a seven-year $250 million revolving credit facility provided to FSL Trust by a syndicate of banks jointly led by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Co. Ltd., Singapore Branch and Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, Singapore Branc