Holland & Knight Advises International Seaways in $390 Million (with $100 Million Accordion) Secured Loan Transaction
NEW YORK (February 6, 2020) – Holland & Knight represented International Seaways, Inc. (NYS:INSW), one of the world’s largest crude oil and petroleum product tanker companies, in a $390 million committed secured loan transaction, with a $100 million uncommitted accordion. The transaction comprised a five-year $300 million senior secured loan facility, a five-year $40 million revolving credit facility, a two-and-a-half-year $50 million senior secured term loan credit facility and an uncommitted $100 million incremental loan credit facility.
The transaction funding on January 28 allowed International Seaways to recapitalize its debt structure by prepaying secured facilities, freeing up assets, and buying back its unsecured high-yield notes, and reduced its annual interest expense by approximately $15 million. International Seaways employed a ground-breaking sustainability-linked pricing mechanism, the first of its kind for a NYSE-listed ship owner and operator, consistent with the de-carbonization trajectory in the Poseidon Principles, the global framework by which financial institutions can assess the climate alignment of their ship finance portfolios.
The Holland & Knight team advising International Seaways was led by Partner Jovi Tenev and included Richard Crowley, Richard Furey, Douglas Youngman, Nana Prempeh, Zhandos Kuderin, Soo Young Hong, Andrea Buff and Sergio Stifelman.
Nordea Bank Abp, New York Branch, ABN AMRO Capital USA LLC, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, DNB Capital LLC and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, or their respective affiliates, acted as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, and BNP Paribas and Danish Ship Finance A/S were lead arrangers. Nordea is the administrative agent, collateral agent and security trustee under the credit agreement, and ABN acts as sustainability coordinator.
More information about the transaction can be found here.
About International Seaways, Inc.: International Seaways is one of the largest tanker companies worldwide providing energy transportation services for crude oil and petroleum products in International Flag markets. The company, which is headquartered in New York City, owns and operates a fleet of 42 ships, including 13 VLCCs, two Suezmaxes, six Aframaxes/LR2s, 12 Panamaxes/LR1s and seven MR tankers. Through joint ventures, it currently has ownership interests in two floating storage and offloading service vessels. International Seaways has an experienced team committed to the very best operating practices and the highest levels of customer service and operational efficiency. www.intlseas.com