SFL - Acquisition Of Two 17,000 dwt Chemical Tankers In Combination With 10 Year Charters

Hamilton OH - Ship Finance International Limited ("Ship Finance" or the "Company"), recently announced that it has agreed to acquire two 17,000 dwt chemical tankers newbuildings based on a total purchase price of $60.2M, or $30.1M per vessel.

The vessels are expected to be delivered from the shipyard in March and August 2008, and will then commence a 10 year bareboat charter to Bryggen Shipping & Trading AS ("Bryggen" or the "Charterer"), a Norwegian-based privately owned chemical tanker company. The agreed bareboat charter rate will be $8,000 per vessel per day, and at the end of the charter period, Bryggen is granted a fixed price purchase option of $20M per vessel.

Bryggen has sub-chartered the vessels for 10 years on a bareboat charter to Sinochem International (holding) Co. Ltd. ("Sinochem"), a leading China-based chemical logistics provider, listed in Shanghai.

The transaction will be financed with a 10-year senior loan facility of USD 49 mill. and an equity contribution of USD 11.2 mill. The interest rate has been swapped to fixed rate for the entire loan period and the average annual net cash contribution after estimated interest expense and debt repayment is estimated to approximately $1.4 mill.

This transaction is another verification of Ship Finance's strategy to diversify both the asset base and the customer portfolio with new profitable transactions. These vessels are the first chemical tankers in our portfolio, and we anticipate further growth opportunities in this segment.

SOURCE: Ship Finance International Limited