Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc. will acquire two newbuilding Ice Class 1A Panamax product tankers. The vessels, which will be named the Omega Emmanuel and the Omega Theodore upon their delivery to the Company, each have a capacity of approximately 73,000 dwt. and are both currently under construction at STX Shipbuilding Co., South Korea.
The Omega Emmanuel is expected to be delivered on March 23 and the Omega Theodore is expected to be delivered on April 26. Following the delivery of these vessels, Omega Navigation will have a fleet of eight product carriers with a combined cargo carrying capacity of approximately 512,358 dwt. The Company also has options to acquire two additional double hull Ice Class 1A product carriers currently under construction which are expected to be available for delivery between August and September 2007.
The agreed purchase price of the Omega Emmanuel and the Omega Theodore is $64.5m per vessel. The acquisitions will be funded with internally generated cash and commercial bank debt totaling $60 million per vessel. The balance will be funded by a $4.5 million, zero coupon warrant issued to the seller for each vessel, which will convert into Omega Class A common shares, no earlier than March 31, 2009