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Athens, Greece, September 24, 2014 (Globe Newswire) FreeSeas Inc. (Nasdaq: FREE) ("FreeSeas" or the "Company"), a transporter of dry-bulk cargoes through the ownership and operation of a fleet of Handysize and Handymax vessels, announced today that it has sold to unrelated third parties the M/V 'Free Impala', a 1997-built, 24,111 dwt Handysize dry bulk carrier for a sale price of $3.6 million. Substantially all the proceeds have been used to reduce outstanding indebtedness with the National Bank of Greece (NBG), which had a mortgage on the vessel. Mr. Ion Varouxakis, the Company's Chairman, President and CEO stated, "We are pleased to announce the sale of the only laid-up vessel of our fleet in order to reduce outstanding indebtedness. Today's transaction is one more step in the direction of the Company's plan to reduce bank debt and increase operational leverage. We aspire to keep reducing outstanding bank debt and to capitalize on NBG's offer to forgive approximately $4.7 million of debt against repayment of $22 million, while creating the conditions for the acquisition of additional vessels in order to increase our income and earnings." Mr. Varouxakis added: "Today's payment of $3.3 million, in conjunction with the payment of a further $2.7 million a few days ago, brings total payments to $6 million. NBG is our last outstanding lender, and the latest payments bring the conditions for the offered debt forgiveness much closer to fruition, which would extinguish our bank debt. This is a marked improvement compared to $90 million of outstanding bank debt less than a year ago." 
M/V 'Free Impala', a 1997-built, 24,111 dwt Handysize dry bulk carrier About FreeSeas Inc.
FreeSeas Inc. press release |
