VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teekay Tankers Ltd. (Teekay Tankers or the Company) (NYSE:TNK) today announced the following updates since its Investor Day in November 2019:
Sale of Non-U.S. Ship-to-Ship Transfer Business
The Company has reached an agreement with Hili Ventures to sell a portion of its oil and gas ship-to-ship transfer support services business, which also provides gas terminal management and gas consulting services, for approximately $26 million. The sale is expected to close late in the first quarter of 2020 or early in the second quarter of 2020.
Teekay Tankers will retain its entire Full-Service Lightering business that operates in the U.S. Gulf, which provides ship-to-ship oil transfers for both U.S. crude imports and exports. In addition, the Company will continue to operate oil ship-to-ship transfer support services in North America and the Caribbean, a business that has synergies with its core Full-Service Lightering business.
Vessel Sales
The Company has agreed to sell three 2003-built Suezmax tankers in separate transactions for combined sale proceeds of approximately $57 million. The first vessel was delivered to the buyer in December 2019 and the remaining two vessels are expected to be delivered during February 2020. The proceeds from the vessel sales are expected to be used to reduce debt, including approximately $30 million of debt directly secured by these three vessels.
New Debt Facility
The Company has closed a new five-year, $533 million revolving credit facility to refinance 31 vessels. The size of the new debt facility was reduced since announcing the term sheet signing in November 2019 as a result of excluding five vessels from the new facility, including the three vessel sales noted above and a potential for further opportunistic vessel sales. The proceeds from the new debt facility will be used to repay approximately $455 million of the Company’s existing debt. The new debt facility has substantially similar terms and extends balloon maturities from 2020/2021 until the end of 2024.
Including the agreed asset sales and the new debt facility, the Company’s liquidity is expected to increase by approximately $73 million.
“We are excited to announce these opportunistic asset sales for combined proceeds of approximately $83 million, which is consistent with our strategy presented at our November 2019 Investor Day and accelerates our planned balance sheet delevering efforts,” commented Kevin Mackay, Teekay Tankers’ President and CEO. “The sale of a portion of our ship-to-ship transfer business also allows us to focus and simplify our core business of crude oil and clean product shipping. Importantly, by retaining our core Full-Service Lightering business in the U.S. Gulf, we will continue to benefit from U.S. import and growing export volumes, which provides synergies with our existing Aframax tanker fleet.”
“We are also grateful for the continued strong support we receive from our bank group, as represented by our new $533 million debt facility, which was approximately two times oversubscribed, and provides the Company with increased financial flexibility.”
About Teekay Tankers
Teekay Tankers currently owns a fleet of 55 double-hull tankers (including 29 Suezmax tankers, 17 Aframax tankers and nine LR2 product tankers), has six time-chartered-in tankers, and has interests in five ship-to-ship support vessels. Teekay Tankers also owns a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) through a 50 percent-owned joint venture. Teekay Tankers’ vessels are typically employed through a mix of short- or medium-term fixed-rate time charter contracts and spot tanker market trading. In addition, Teekay Tankers owns a ship-to-ship transfer business. Teekay Tankers was formed in December 2007 by Teekay Corporation as part of its strategy to expand its conventional oil tanker business.
Teekay Tankers’ common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TNK”.
For Investor Relations
enquiries contact:
Ryan Hamilton
Tel: +1 (604) 609-2963
Website: www.teekay.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) which reflect management’s current views with respect to certain future events and performance, including: the expected timing of vessel sale deliveries, the timing and certainty of closing the sale of a portion of the Company’s ship-to-ship transfer business; the Company’s ability to continue benefitting from U.S. oil imports and growing U.S. oil exports; the impact of asset sales on the Company’s liquidity and financial leverage; and the impact of the new debt facility on the Company’s financial flexibility. The following factors are among those that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, and that should be considered in evaluating any such statement: potential delays in vessel sale deliveries and closing the sale of a portion of the Company’s ship-to-ship transfer business; failure to close the sale of the Company’s ship-to-ship transfer business or vessel sales; changes in U.S. oil import or export volumes; and other factors discussed in Teekay Tankers’ filings from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.