FSL TRUST COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF YM EMINENCE
Singapore, 20 May 2008 – FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd. (“FSLTM”), Trustee-Manager
of First Ship Lease Trust (“FSL Trust”), announced today that it has completed the
acquisition of the first Yang Ming vessel, YM Eminence, from a wholly owned subsidiary of
Taiwan-based and -listed Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation ("YML"). YM Eminence
has concurrently been leased back to YML for a lease term of 12 years with a purchase
option for YML at the end of the lease term.
As previously announced on 12 May 2008, FSL Trust had entered into a conditional
agreement to acquire three container vessels from YML for a total consideration of US$210
million. YM Eminence is the first of the three vessels. The remaining two, currently under
construction, are expected to be delivered in end June and end October 2008 respectively.
The acquisition of YM Eminence is fully funded by FSL Trust's second US$200 million
revolving credit line. FSL Trust has hedged the interest rate risk with an interest rate swap
to fix the interest rate exposure until the maturity of the facility. YM Eminence, a 4,250 TEU
containership, will trade in YML's Intra-Asia and Asia-Europe liner services.
The acquisition of YM Eminence and the second vessel is expected to be significantly
accretive to FSL Trust's distribution per unit ("DPU"), raising projected DPU for Q3 FY2008
to US3.05 cents. Guidance on the DPU accretion for the third vessel will be announced
once financing has been secured.
FSL Trust press release
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