Global Ship Lease and Poseidon Containers Holdings LLC and K&T Marine LLC Announces Executive Appointments
October 29, 2018 at 04:29 pm EDT
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Global Ship Lease, Inc, Poseidon Containers Holdings LLC and K&T Marine LLC (together "Poseidon Containers") announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement for a stock-for-stock transaction representing a total transaction value of over $780 million on an asset value basis to create a leading containership charter owner focused on mid-sized and smaller vessels. The combined company will have a fleet of 38 vessels with a total capacity of 198,793 TEU, an average fleet age weighted by TEU of 10.7 years, and contracted revenue of $528 million as of September 30, 2018. George Youroukos will join the Global Ship Lease, Inc., Global Ship Lease, Inc. and K&T Marine LLC Board of Directors as Executive Chairman, leading the management team where Ian Webber will continue as Chief Executive Officer and Tom Lister as Chief Commercial Officer. Tassos Psaropoulos, currently Chief Financial Officer of Poseidon Containers, will join management as Chief Financial Officer. The transaction, which does not require any approvals from the Company's shareholders, is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in November 2018.
Global Ship Lease, Inc. is a United Kingdom-based containership owner, leasing ships to container shipping companies under industry-standard, fixed-rate time charters. The Company focuses on mid-size Post-Panamax and smaller containerships. As a containership owner, its business is both procyclical with chartered tonnage and counter-cyclical with sale and lease-back structures. The Company owns 68 containerships, ranging from 2,207 to 11,040 TEU, with a combined capacity of 375,406 TEU. 36 ships are wide beam Post-Panamax. The mix of ship sizes within its fleet provides flexibility to deploy its vessels on a range of trading routes. Its portfolio of vessels includes CMA CGM Thalassa, ZIM Norfolk, Anthea Y, ZIM Xiamen, MSC Tianjin, MSC Qingdao, GSL Ningbo, GSL Alexandra, GSL Effie, GSL Lydia, GSL Sofia, GSL Kalliopi, GSL Grania, GSL Eleni, Mary, Kristina, Katherine, Alexandra, Alexis, Olivia I, CMA CGM Berlioz, Agios Dimitrios, and GSL Christel Elisabeth, among others.