$1.7 billion acquisition and increased quarterly dividend

Ship Finance International Limited announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire two newbuilding ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs from subsidiaries of Seadrill Limited (Seadrill) in combination with 15-year bareboat charters.

With a total acquisition cost of approximately $1.7 billion, Ship Finance is again breaking records for sale/leaseback transactions in the maritime industry. The Company has received commitments for a $1.4 billion loan facility from a syndicate of leading international banks. 

The approximately $300 million net investment by Ship Finance is planned sourced from a combination of the Company's available liquidity and new financing arrangements related to existing assets. These assets include vessels with no or very low leverage and a substantial profit share payment due from Frontline in early 2009 ($66.8 million accumulated YTD). 

Based on this highly accretive transaction, the Company intends to increase the quarterly dividend from $0.58 to $0.60 per share in respect of the third quarter.

Source: Transportweekly