TOPT Top Tankers Inc. (MM)

ATHENS, Greece, July 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TOP Tankers Inc (NASDAQ:TOPT) announced today that it has entered into agreements to acquire three drybulk vessels from unrelated third parties as follows: -- One 2002 built super handymax, or supramax, vessel of 51,200 dwt, built in China. The vessel will be chartered back to the sellers for a period of 18 months at a daily net rate of $25,650 on a bareboat basis. -- One 1995 built panamax vessel of 73,506 dwt, built in South Korea. The vessel will be time-chartered for a period of 24-26 months at a daily net rate of $29,700. -- One 2000 built handymax vessel of 45,526 dwt, built in Philippines. The vessel will be time-chartered for a period of 14-16 months at a daily net rate of $22,000. This agreement is subject to charterers' approval which is expected to be granted by July 16, 2007. The vessels are scheduled to be delivered to the Company between September 2007 and January 2008. Evangelos Pistiolis, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, stated: "This acquisition represents the Company's first entry into the drybulk sector, which has demonstrated significant growth in the past few years and is expected to remain robust based on strong fundamentals. Through the newly-acquired drybulk vessels, we will be able to serve customers in the steel, electric utility, construction and agri-food industries, and implement a diversification strategy. By entering into the drybulk sector, we can further enhance our risk profile by reducing our dependence on the tanker industry. "Our management team has significant experience operating large and diversified fleets of tankers and drybulk carriers and has expertise in all aspects of the commercial, technical, management and financial areas of the business. We believe that our current management structure, operations and financial systems are well equipped to accommodate the expansion of our fleet into this new area. "We believe that a strategy of growing a relatively significant fleet in selected sectors will provide us with the ability to develop a strong presence in multiple sectors of the shipping industry and to build and maintain enduring relationships with charterers. We intend to continue to review the market for drybulk and tanker vessels to continue our program of acquiring suitable vessels on terms we deem advantageous." The aggregate purchase price of the vessels is approximately $149.1 million. The Company intends to finance the acquisition of the vessels through new loan facilities and net proceeds of $29.46 million from recently completed sales of 4.3 million shares of its common stock. These securities were sold by the Company's sales agent, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., through a combination of at-the-market sales and previously announced, negotiated transactions. About TOP Tankers Inc TOP Tankers Inc is an international provider of worldwide seaborne crude oil and petroleum products transportation services. The Company operates a fleet of 22 tankers, consisting of 12 double-hull Suezmax tankers and 10 double-hull Handymax tankers, with a total carrying capacity of approximately 2.3 million dwt, of which 87% are sister ships, and three drybulk vessels of approximately 0.17 million dwt. Fifteen of the Company's 22 tankers will be on time charter contracts with an average term of over three years with all but four of the time charters including profit sharing agreements. All dry vessels have period charter contracts for an average period of 18 months. Forward Looking Statement Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward- looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect" "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, failure of a seller to deliver one or more vessels or of a buyer to accept delivery of one or more vessels, inability to procure acquisition financing, default by one or more charterers of our ships, changes in the demand for crude oil and petroleum products, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. Contact: Michael Mason (investors) Stamatis Tsantanis, CFO Allen & Caron Inc TOP Tankers Inc 212 691 8087 011 30 210 812 8199 DATASOURCE: TOP Tankers Inc CONTACT: investors, Michael Mason of Allen & Caron Inc, +1-212-691-8087, ; or Stamatis Tsantanis, CFO of TOP Tankers Inc, 011 30 210 812 8199, Web site: http://www.toptankers.com/

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