Euroseas Ltd., an owner and operator of container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes, made today the following announcements:
Time Charter for its Older Containership, M/V Aegean Express
Euroseas announced today a new charter for its older and smaller feeder containership, M/V Aegean Express. Specifically, the charter of M/V Aegean Express has been extended in direct continuation of its existing charter for a minimum period of ten months and a maximum period of twelve months at a rate of $16,700 per day.
Spin-off of its Older Three Vessels into a Separate Company
The Company also announced its intent to spin-off the Company’s older three vessels, M/V Aegean Express, M/V Diamantis P and M/V Joanna, into a separate company, Euroholdings Ltd. (“Euroholdings”), which has applied for listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market.
The Company will contribute the three vessels to Euroholdings in exchange for 100% of the shares of Euroholdings which it will then distribute to its shareholders. There can be no assurance that the spin-off transaction will ultimately occur or, if it does occur, what its structure, terms or timing will be. The Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the spin-off on January 7, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. EST. Please find conference call and webcast information further in the press release.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented: “We are pleased to announce the extension of the charter of Aegean Express and our plan to spin-off our three elder vessels in a separate company, Euroholdings Ltd., which has applied for listing on NASDAQ. The spin-off of our three older vessels into a separate entity and the distribution of all shares to our common shareholders, the only shareholder class in our capital structure, enables us to maximize the value of the older vessels in our fleet and shareholder returns by creating a new platform to capture new opportunities following a different strategy from Euroseas.
Euroholdings shares represent only about 5% of our Euroseas’ NAV estimate, so the spin-off is not expected to have any material impact on Euroseas and its overall strategy. At Euroseas, we plan to continue taking advantage of growth opportunities as they may present themselves while continuing our high quarterly dividend distributions based on our strong capital structure and forward charter cover. Furthermore, Euroseas intends to continue with its stated strategy of modernizing its fleet as we have demonstrated over the last couple of years by placing orders for 11 newbuilding vessels, seven of which have been delivered in 2023 and 2024, two are slated for delivery in early January 2025 and the remaining two in 2027.
We firmly believe that under the right circumstances, there is considerable value in the current environment in continuing to trade older well-maintained vessels, rather than selling them, as these can ultimately generate higher returns. The increased market and operational risks associated with older vessels are mitigated by the fact that the three first Euroholdings vessels are currently unlevered, two of the three are under time charter employment providing medium term visibility of earnings and all vessels will continue to be managed by our affiliate, Eurobulk Ltd., which has a proven track record of handling older vessels.
Given the company’s fleet profile and capital structure, shorter remaining economic life and higher intended dividend distribution policy, we believe that Euroholdings shares should trade at better valuation levels and smaller or no discount to NAV compared to its sector peers. We anticipate that both Euroseas and Euroholdings will be valued better separately as they offer more and different options to investors. Furthermore, Euroholdings with its clean balance sheet and relatively liquid platform can be used as a consolidating vehicle in the shipping sector, especially for vintage vessels, creating additional value to shareholders over the longer term.
We plan to discuss the spin-off in more detail and the opportunities it may generate in a separate conference call on January 7, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. EST.”
Source: Euroseas Ltd.
