First Ship Lease Trust signs US$15m loan deal with Chailease

FIRST Ship Lease Trust on Monday said that six wholly-owned subsidiaries of the trust have entered into a US$15 million facility agreement with Chailease International Financial Services (Singapore) for the refinancing of six vessels.

They are namely the Cumbrian Fisher, Clyde Fisher, Shannon Fisher, Solway Fisher, Seniority and Superiority.

The loan, which has a maturity of five years from the date of drawdown, will be repaid in 20 quarterly instalments of US$750,000 each, and bears interest of 3.975 per cent per annum above USD Libor.

The loan is secured by, among other things, mortgages over the vessels, assignments of the earnings and insurances of the vessels and a guarantee of the trust.

It will be made available to the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the trust subject to customary conditions being met.

First Ship Lease Trust's units ended at S$0.079 on Monday, down S$0.002 or 2.47 per cent.