DryShips Buys Nautilus Stake, Adds Six OSVs
Greek ship owner DryShips plans to add six support vessels to its fleet by acquiring a large stake in Nautilus Offshore Services.
Dry bulk shipowner DryShips has entered into an agreement to acquire approximately 98% of Nautilus OffShore Services Inc. for a purchase price of $87 million plus the assumption of approximately $33 million of net debt.
Nautilus indirectly through its subsidiaries owns six Offshore Supply Vessels of which four are Oil Spill Recovery Vessels (OSRVs) and two are Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs), all of which are on time charter to Petrobras until certain dates through 2017.
The vessels are managed by TMS OffShore Services Inc., an entity controlled by the Company's Chief Executive Officer, George Economou.
The purchase price will be partly financed by a new loan facility of $50 million provided to the Company by an entity controlled by George Economou.
The loan will be secured by shares that the Company holds in Ocean Rig UDW Inc. and by one Panamax drybulk carrier and has a tenor of three years. In addition, the lenders and the borrowers have certain conversion rights.
Ziad Nakhleh, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented: "We are very pleased to have agreed to the acquisition of six modern Offshore Supply Vessels from clients of TMS OffShore with fixed rate employment that we expect will generate in excess of $20 million of EBITDA until the end of 2016. With the support of our founder and main shareholder we are diversifying the Company's asset base and increasing the Company's secured cash flow for the benefit of all stakeholders."
