COSCO Pacific in container sale leaseback deal

COSCO Pacific in container sale leaseback deal The Florens unit of COSCO Pacific Ltd. has entered into a deal to sell and leaseback shipping containers with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
   COSCO Pacific said it transferred to a unit of the bank called CBA USD assets with net book value of about $242.3 million on June 30 and realized an estimated gain of $4.2 million after taxes and direct expenses. CBA would not pay more than $250 million for the assets.
   COSCO Pacific said it intends to use the proceeds of sale of the marine containers for general working capital and/or for funding such investment projects. It did not say how many containers were involved in the deal
   “The lease-back of the marine containers pursuant to the lease agreement allows the group to retain commercial control of the marine containers and hence to sublease them to customers and generate and retain the earnings generated from such subleasing over the period of lease,” the company explained.