Hamilton, Bermuda. November 1, 2024
Avance Gas Holding Ltd. («Avance Gas» or «Company») (OSE: AGAS) refer to the announcement on August 15, 2024, to sell its VLGC fleet to BW LPG Ltd for $1,050 million. The sale of the Very Large Gas Carrier ("VLGC") fleet was agreed to be settled with approximately $585 million of cash, novation of approximately $132 million of debt obligations under a sale leaseback agreement with the remainder being settled in 19.282 million shares in BW LPG where the parties agreed a fair value of such compensation at $333 million or a Net Asset Value basis of $17.25 per share. The overall book gain from the transaction was estimated to be $315 million of which $10 million was assumed to be depreciation savings as all vessel depreciation was discontinued on August 15, 2024, when the sale of the ships was announced. The discontinuation of the depreciation from August 15, will thus have a positive effect on earnings in third and fourth quarter.
The Company announce today the successful sale and delivery of the first VLGC, the 2015-built non-scrubber ship Chinook, to BW LPG Ltd. As part of the transaction, 1.35 million shares in BW LPG have been issued to Avance Gas corresponding to approximately 1% ownership share. Once, the transaction is finalized and all shares has been received, Avance Gas will be the second largest shareholder in BW LPG with approx. 12.8% ownership share. These consideration shares will have a lock-up period of 40 days from being received as previously announced, but otherwise are fully ordinary shares.
In connection with the sale, the ship mortgage has been repaid and the Company expect to receive net cash proceeds of $18.5 million, in addition to the 1.35 million consideration shares in BW LPG. The vessel is currently on a variable Time Charter with an energy major expiring in mid-2025 and this Time Charter has also been successfully novated to BW LPG.
The eleven remaining vessels are scheduled for delivery to BW LPG prior year-end. As of today, eight vessels are expected to be delivered to BW LPG in November while the remaining three VLGCs are expected to be delivered in December. Two of the ships are subject to closing procedures in connection with novation of lease while customary closing procedures under the Memorandum of Agreements applies to all ships.
Avance Gas will issue regular press releases in connection with the remaining deliveries and the Company will revert with more information in relation to its third quarter results scheduled to be presented on November 27, 2024.
Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Avance Gas, commented:
"We are pleased to start executing deliveries of the VLGC fleet to BW LPG with the first delivery of Chinook successfully executed according to plan. During the next few weeks, we will deliver the remaining 11 VLGCs to BW LPG. While the winter market for VLGCs has so far been on the soft side, we are glad to see that BW LPG has been able to capture more of the value chain economics though its integrated operations. Hence, we are looking forward to becoming the second largest shareholder of BW LPG with a 12.8 per cent shareholding before year-end."
For further queries, please contact:
Media contact: Øystein Kalleklev, CEO Tel: +47 23 11 40 00
Investor and Analyst contact: Randi Navdal Bekkelund, CFO Tel: +47 23 11 40 00
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
