Contact Information: Contacts: Company Contact: Gregory A. McGrath Chief Financial Officer Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 272 Convent Station, NJ 07961 Tel. (551) 580-0532 E-mail: gmcgrath@omeganavigation.com www.omeganavigation.com Investor Relations / Financial Media: Nicolas Bornozis President Capital Link, Inc. 230 Park Avenue, Suite 1536 New York, NY 10169 Tel. (212) 661-7566 E-mail: nbornozis@capitallink.com www.capitallink.com
Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc. Restructures Debt Into a Non Amortizing Facility
| Source: Omega Navigation
PIRAEUS, GREECE--(Marketwire - March 31, 2008) - Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ : ONAV ) (SGX: ONAV50), a provider of global marine transportation services
focusing on product tankers, announced today it has completed a
restructuring of its current senior debt facility and has entered into a
new junior debt facility.
Debt Restructuring
Effective March 28, 2008 Omega has completed a restructuring of its current
debt facility with HSH Nordbank as agent of a syndication of Banks and
entered into a new junior facility with NIBC Bank N.V. and Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.
The Senior Facility will be reduced from its current outstanding balance of
$284.2 million to $242.7 million. This facility is secured by a first
mortgage on the Company's current fleet of eight vessels. The facility
will have a term until April of 2011 and will be non amortizing. The
facility is priced at a margin grid ranging from 0.9% up to 1.10% above
LIBOR based on the Loan to Value ratio. Presently the rate is calculated at
0.9% above LIBOR.
The Junior Facility, in the amount of $42.5 million, will be used to
partially repay the senior facility together with relevant fees and is
secured by a second mortgage on our current fleet of eight vessels. The
facility will also be non amortizing. The term will be consistent with the
term of the senior facility and will be priced at a margin grid ranging
between 2.25 to 3.00% above LIBOR based on the Loan to Value ratio of both
the Senior and Junior facilities. Presently the rate is calculated at 2.5%
above LIBOR. The entire Junior Facility will be fixed through a 3-year
interest rate swap with the swap rate of approximately 2.96%.
While the overall debt level of the Company remains approximately the same,
currently at about 55% Loan to Value on the fleet of 8 vessels, the
restructuring significantly increases the financial flexibility of the
Company while at the same time lowers our overall cost of borrowing. The
non amortizing facilities, which will free up approximately $15 million of
cash flow in 2008 and about $41.4 million until the maturity, will allow
the Company to reserve more cash for potential acquisition opportunities.
Also, we believe the covenants associated with both facilities are now
further improved and more in line with industry standards. Because of the
young age (less than three years old) and quality of our existing fleet the
Company expects to be able to refinance the fleet at the end of the term of
the facilities.
George Kassiotis, President and CEO of the Company commented, "We are
extremely pleased to have concluded this restructuring of our debt,
particularly in these challenging times for the credit markets, exhibiting
the confidence of our lenders in our Company and its fundamentals. The
restructuring increases the financial flexibility of the Company to a very
large degree. The non amortizing aspect of both facilities gives more
visibility to our partial payout structure as the Company retains further
reserves enhancing its ability to take advantage of potential accretive
opportunities in the market while our current quarterly dividend policy is
protected by the fixed charters on our vessels and by our subordinated
share structure in favor of our public shareholders."
About Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc.
Omega Navigation Enterprises, Inc. is an international provider of global
marine transportation services through the ownership and operation of eight
double hull product tankers. The current fleet includes eight double hull
product tankers with a carrying capacity of 512,358 dwt. These eight
product tankers are chartered out under three-year period time charters.
Furthermore, the company recently announced the signing of shipbuilding
contracts to construct and acquire five newbuilding double hull Handymax
product tankers each with a capacity of 37,000 dwt scheduled for delivery
between March 2010 and early in 2011. With the addition of these five
vessels, the Omega fleet will expand to 13 product tankers with a total
deadweight capacity of 697,358 tons.
The Company was incorporated in the Marshall Islands in February 2005. Its
principal executive offices are located in Piraeus, Greece and it also
maintains an office in the United States.
Omega Navigation's Class A Common Shares are traded on the NASDAQ National
Market under the symbol "ONAV" and are also listed on the Singapore
Exchange Securities Trading Limited under the symbol "ONAV 50."
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking
statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides
safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to
encourage companies to provide prospective information about their
business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans,
objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying
assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of
historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this
cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The
words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast,"
"project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect,"
"pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various
assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions,
including without limitation, the Company's management's examination of
historical operating trends, data contained in the Company's records and
other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that
these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are
inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are
difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Company's control,
the Company cannot assure you that the Company will achieve or accomplish
these expectations, beliefs or projections.
In addition to these important factors other important factors that, in the
Company's view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those
discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world
economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations
in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for product tanker
and dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Company's operating
expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the
market for the Company's vessels, availability of financing and
refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken
by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future
litigation, general domestic and international political conditions,
potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political
events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors.
Please see the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties.