Eagle Bulk in $153 million nine ship Ultramax deal

Crown 63 is a Sinopacific Shipbuilding design

MARCH 1, 2017 — Stamford, CT, headquartered Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq: EGLE) says it has reached a definitive agreement to purchase a minimum of six, and up to nine, Crown-63 Ultramax dry bulk sister vessels for an aggregate price of $153 million for all nine.

The vessels, which range in age from 2 – 5 years, will be acquired from Greenship Bulk Trust, a company registered on the Norwegian OTC list.

The agreement includes the outright acquisition of six vessels, with acquisition of an additional three vessels being contingent upon final approval from Greenship’s unit holders.

Deliveries are anticipated to commence in April of this year.

Gary Vogel, Eagle Bulk’s CEO, commented, “Eagle Bulk continues to execute on our fleet renewal and growth strategy, and today’s announced acquisition affirms our ability to transact in a meaningful way. We are especially pleased that we were able to reach an agreement to purchase six, and potentially nine, sister ships en bloc in a market where quality tonnage is difficult to find. We view this as a milestone transaction, as it can increase our number of vessels by over 20% while meaningfully advancing the build-out of our owner-operator business model.”

Assuming the successful delivery of all nine vessels, the Eagle Bulk fleet will consist of 50 owned vessels.