Swissco JV wins charter contract worth up to US$115 million

A JOINT venture (JV) between mainboard-listed Swissco Holdings and Union Offshore has bagged a charter contract worth up to US$115 million to support an Asia-Pacific-based oil company.

Union Offshore is a company incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The charter contract is for a period of up to seven years.

In order to acquire an offshore service unit to fulfill the charter contract requirements, the JV has entered into a memorandum of agreement. Following its refurbishment and upgrading, the offshore service unit is expected to be deployed initially in the offshore oil & gas fields in Asia-Pacific around Q1 2015.

The charter is expected to have a positive impact on the group's earnings per share or net tangible assets per share for FY2015, Swissco said.

In addition, Swissco has landed another 12-month charter contract worth up to US$3.87 million for a multipurpose vessel in the Middle East.

Swissco's group chief investment officer Kelvin Tang said: "The acquisition by the group and the completion of this joint venture mark another key milestone in the history of Swissco. The award of the long term charter contract is a testament of our successful strategy in acquiring cost-efficient rigs and operating in high-demand areas. With our experience in Latin America, we are confident that this partnership will further strengthen our expansion in the upstream of the exploration and production sector."