Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE: GSL)(NYSE: GSL.U)(NYSE: GSL.WS), a
containership charter owner, announced today that due to current
challenges in the ship valuation environment and as a pre-emptive
measure against potential issues under loan-to-value covenants in
its US$ 800 million credit facility, the Company has signed an
agreement to waive for two months the requirement under the credit
facility to submit vessel valuations, which were next due on April
30, 2009 and undertake the consequent loan-to-value test.
Accordingly, the Company has entered negotiations with its lenders
until June 30, 2009, during which time it expects to finalize an
amendment to the credit facility. In connection with the agreement
for a two month waiver, Global Ship Lease will not pay dividends to
common shareholders during this period and intends to review its
dividend policy at the end of this period. The facility will bear
an interest margin of 2.75% for the two month period.
Ian Webber, Chief Executive Officer of Global Ship Lease,
commented, "This agreement was secured in response to the current
disruption in the containership sale and purchase market and
resulting difficulty in receiving meaningful vessel valuations when
many ship brokers have suspended issuing such valuations. We will
work closely with our bank group over the next two months to
further amend our credit facility. Importantly, all of our
contracts continue to perform as expected and our charter hire
remains current. We anticipate that operating income for First
Quarter 2009 will be in excess of $13 million compared to $10
million for Fourth Quarter 2008, reflecting a full quarter's
contribution from the four vessels we purchased in December.
Further, our entire operating fleet is secured to time charters
with an average remaining term of approximately 10 years,
positioning the Company to continue to generate predictable and
stable cash flows going forward. Global Ship Lease's total
contracted revenue is currently $1.6 billion."
About Global Ship Lease
Global Ship Lease is a containership charter owner. Incorporated
in the Marshall Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations in
December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering out
containerships under long-term, fixed rate charters to world class
container liner companies.
Global Ship Lease currently owns 16 vessels and has contracted
to purchase an additional three vessels. The Company has a contract
in place to purchase an additional vessel for $82 million from CMA
CGM, which is expected to be delivered in July of 2009 and also has
contracts in place to purchase two newbuildings from German
interests for approximately $77 million each which are scheduled to
be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Once all of the contracted vessels have been delivered by the
end of 2010, Global Ship Lease will have a 19 vessel fleet with
total capacity of 74,797 TEU and a weighted average age at that
time of 7.4 years and an average remaining charter term of
approximately eight years. All of the vessels including those
contracted for future delivery are fixed on long-term charters.
Safe Harbor Statement
This communication contains forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements provide Global Ship Lease's current
expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking
statements include statements about Global Ship Lease's
expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions
and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or
phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "ongoing," "plan," "potential,"
"predict," "project," "will" or similar words or phrases, or the
negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking
statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily
mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking
statements are based on assumptions that may be incorrect, and
Global Ship Lease cannot assure you that these projections included
in these forward-looking statements will come to pass. Actual
results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by
the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors
The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:
- future operating or financial results;
- expectations regarding the strength of the future growth of
the shipping industry, including the rate of annual demand growth
in the international containership industry;
- future payments of dividends and the availability of cash for
payment of dividends;
- Global Ship Lease's expectations relating to dividend payments
and forecasts of its ability to make such payments;
- future acquisitions, business strategy and expected capital
spending;
- operating expenses, availability of crew, number of off-hire
days, drydocking and survey requirements and insurance costs;
- general market conditions and shipping industry trends,
including charter rates and factors affecting supply and
demand;
- Global Ship Lease's ability to repay its credit facility and
grow using the available funds under its credit facility;
- assumptions regarding interest rates and inflation;
- change in the rate of growth of global and various regional
economies;
- risks incidental to vessel operation, including discharge of
pollutants and vessel collisions;
- Global Ship Lease's financial condition and liquidity,
including its ability to obtain additional financing in the future
to fund capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general
corporate activities;
- estimated future capital expenditures needed to preserve its
capital base;
- Global Ship Lease's expectations about the availability of
ships to purchase, the time that it may take to construct new
ships, or the useful lives of its ships;
- Global Ship Lease's continued ability to enter into long-term,
fixed-rate charters;
- Global Ship Lease's ability to capitalize on its management
team's and board of directors' relationships and reputations in the
containership industry to its advantage;
- changes in governmental and classification societies' rules
and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities;
- expectations about the availability of insurance on
commercially reasonable terms;
- unanticipated changes in laws and regulations; and
- potential liability from future litigation.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown
risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate
assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Global Ship Lease's actual results could differ materially from
those anticipated in forward-looking statements for many reasons
specifically as described in Global Ship Lease's filings with the
SEC. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
communication. Global Ship Lease undertakes no obligation to
publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect
circumstances or events after the date of this communication or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should,
however, review the factors and risks Global Ship Lease describes
in the reports it will file from time to time with the SEC after
the date of this communication.
Contacts: Investor and Media Contact: The IGB Group Tyler Wilson
646-673-9701
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