Knightsbridge Sells Pair of Supertankers, Gains Nice Little Bonus Too

Image: Knightsbridge Tankers

Knightsbridge Tankers Limited (Nasdaq:VLCCF) announced today that the sale of the VLCC Hampstead, which was discussed in their second quarter earnings release last month, was not completed due to default on behalf of the buyer.

It turned out to be a winning situation for Knightsbridge however, as they retained the $2.43 million deposit and were able to immediately turn around and sell the Hampstead to an unrelated third party. The net cash proceeds, including the $2.43 million deposit from the cancelled sale, are approximately $11 million. The ship will be delivered to its new owner by the end of September.

With the sale of this tanker, Knightsbridge expects to record a loss of approximately $15 million in the third quarter.

In addition to the sale of the Hampstead, Knightsbridge also announced the sale of the VLCC Titan Venus (ex. Camden) to an unrelated third party. The ship will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2012 upon the expiry of its bareboat storage charter. Net cash proceeds from the sale are approximately $7 million.

Following the sale of these two ships, the company’s fleet now consists of four Capesize vessels and two VLCCs. One of the VLCCs and two of the Capesize vessels are fixed on bareboat and time charters expiring between 2013 and 2015.