Stealthgas, a ship-owning company primarily serving the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry, announced the acquisition of two newbuilding LPG vessels as part of its fleet expansion program.
The company exercised the acquisition options with a Korean yard and the additions to the fleet consist of two 22,000cbm semi-refrigerated eco LPG carriers scheduled to be delivered in the second and third quarter of 2017, respectively. The company expects that the acquisition of these larger semi refrigerated eco LPG carriers that can load LPG with high ethane content, will complement well its already leading position in pressurised vessels. Moreover, in Stealthgas’ option vessels can be fitted with exhaust scrubbers and ice class notation making them even more versatile commercially.
With the addition of these two vessels in the expansion plan, the company remains to acquire 19 newbuilding LPG carriers. Total capital expenditure for all the acquisitions amounts to approximately USD 500M. The acquisition of these vessels will be funded with a combination of debt financing and already available cash. With these additions total asset value of the fleet will amount to approximately USD 1.15B.
