Box Ships Inc. Enters Into Agreement To Acquire Two Vessels From OOCL And Related Financing Transaction; public offering of preferred shares and warrants commenced.
Box Ships Inc. (NYSE: TEU) (the "Company"), a global shipping company specializing in the seaborne transportation of containers, announced that it has entered into agreements with subsidiaries of Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) to acquire two 5,344 TEU post-Panamax container vessels, the 1995-build OOCL Hong Kong and the 1996-build OOCL China. The purchase price per vessel is US$31.155 million, inclusive of fees and the expected dates of delivery for both vessels to the Company are to take place no later than July 14, 2012. Both vessels will be chartered to OOCL for a period of thirty-six (36) months plus or minus thirty days (30) at a net daily rate of US$26,465. The employment of the two vessels is anticipated to generate approximately US$57.0 million of net revenues for the agreed period of the charters.
To finance this acquisition, the Company issued $40.0 million of 9.75% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Shares, or the Series B preferred shares, to our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Bodouroglou. The Series B preferred shares have a dividend rate of 9.75% per annum per $30.00 of Liquidation Preference per share. Each of the 1,333,333 Series B preferred shares shall receive a five year warrant, for no additional consideration, to purchase one share of our common stock at $7.74, the closing price of our shares of common stock on June 11, 2012. Our Series B preferred shares are redeemable at our option at the Liquidation Preference price until September 1, 2012, and thereafter for a premium. In the event the Company has not redeemed the Series B preferred shares by June 30, 2015, any holder of then outstanding Series B preferred shares shall receive, on a pro-rata basis, common stock representing, in the aggregate at the time, 5% of the Company's common shares.
The Company will fund the balance of the purchase price by drawing down a $25.0 million senior secured credit facility pursuant to a firm commitment letter it has received from a major European bank. The credit facility has a tenor of three years with a balloon of $10.0 million, and will accrue interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 3.75%.
- Public Offering of Preferred Shares and Warrants:
The Company also announced today that it is commencing a public offering of 700,000 Series B preferred shares, together with warrants to purchase 700,000 of its common shares at anytime between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2017 at a purchase price of $7.74 per share. The Series B preferred shares and warrants are being offered pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement as units, each consisting of one Series B preferred share and one warrant to purchase a common share, and will have identical terms to those of the Series B preferred shares and warrants issued to our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. The net proceeds of the offering are expected to be used to redeem a portion of the Series B preferred shares and related warrants sold to our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Dahlman Rose & Company is acting as placement agent for the offering.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. A prospectus supplement related to the offering will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and will be available on the SEC's website located at www.sec.gov. When available, copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained from Dahlman Rose & Company at 1301 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor, New York, New York, 10019, or by email at prospectus@drco.com.