TORM to Sell Five MR Product Tankers

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday April 22, 2013

TORM A/S [NASDAQ:TRMD]  (TORM) says it has reached agreement on the sale of five MR product tankers to an unnamed company controlled by U.S. headquartered asset management firm Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree).

The Danish shipping company said the sale is a result of a bank group exercising an option obtained as part of the firm's restructuring last year.

The five vessels will be delivered to Oaktree during 2013, at which time it will place them under TORM's commercial management in a revenue sharing scheme, as well as use TORM's integrated operating platform.

The transaction is at a loss of $5 million for TORM which it will realise in the second quarter, but it retains upside potential through a profit split mechanism should Oaktree generate a return above a certain threshold.

"I am very pleased to have concluded this agreement with a strong strategic investor in the product tanker space. We have through our strong operational platform succeeded in maintaining the vessels' association with TORM as intended," said CEO Jacob Meldgaard.

Following the sale, TORM says it's owned fleet consists of 60 product tankers and two dry bulk vessels.

Although the vessels were not named by TORM, Tradewinds speculated the vessels were the 2010 built 52,000-dwt Torm Alice, Torm Aslaug and Torm Almena, and the 2011 built Torm Agnes and Torm Amalie.

It also put their approximate value at $139 million.

Last week the company announced that it has decided to delist from the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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