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Hamilton, Bermuda - December 17, 2015 Frontline Ltd. (the "Company" or "Frontline") today announced that subsidiaries of Frontline have signed a new $500.1 million senior secured term loan facility ("New Facility") with DNB Bank ASA, Nordea Bank Norge ASA, ABN AMRO Bank NV, ING Bank NV, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) (SEB), Danske Bank A/S and Credit Suisse AG. DNB is the facility agent. The New Facility will mature in December 2020 and will carry a rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 190 bps. The proceeds of the New Facility will be used to refinance four existing bank facilities of approximately $378 million in aggregate and repay outstanding amounts owed to Ship Finance International Limited of approximately $113 million. The New Facility will be secured by six VLCC's and six Suezmax tankers with an average age of 4.6 years and it will have an amortization profile of 13.4 years. In addition, the margin on the $466.5 million term loan facility, financing 16 product tankers, will be reduced to 190 bps. The refinancing and amendments are expected to give a positive cash and P&L effect in 2016 alone of approximately $22 million and $7 million, respectively, and the average daily cash cost breakeven TCE rates on the current operating fleet of 43 owned or leased vessels is estimated to be reduced by approximately $1,400 per day. Robert Hvide Macleod, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Management AS, commented: "The terms achieved in the refinancing and related amendments improve our cash flow and lower our cash breakeven rates further. The terms clearly demonstrate the strong support we have from our relationship banks." Frontline Ltd. press release |
