TOP Ships Inc. Announces Agreement to Sell Its 50% Owned Vessels
TOP Ships Inc. (the “Company”), an international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient “ECO” tanker vessels, announced today that its 50% subsidiaries which own M/T Holmby Hills and M/T Palm Springs entered into agreements to sell both vessels to unaffiliated third parties. The vessel sales are subject to customary closing conditions and are anticipated to be concluded during March 2020.
Depending on when the closing of the sales take place and on prevailing USD Swap rates at the time of closing, the Company estimates that it will incur impairment charges ranging from $1.5 million to $3.5 million due to these sales (or losses per share ranging from $0.51 to $1.20) that will affect the year ended 2019 financial results and also estimates the cash release to the Company to range from $19 million to $21 million.
Tokio Marine to sell 3.9% RenRe stake
Bermudian reinsurance firm RenaissanceRe (RenRe) has announced that Tokio Marine plans to sell its 3.9% stake in the company, worth about $334 million.
The stake will be offloaded via an underwritten public secondary offering of 1,739,071 common shares by Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.
These shares formed part of the purchase price when RenRe acquired Tokio Millenium Re back in March 2019.
The $1.5 billion consideration for this deal consisted of $1.22 billion in cash and $250 million of RenRe common shares.
Tokio Marine will receive all of the net proceeds from the share offering, which is expected to close on January 9, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
Additionally, RenRe disclosed that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering.
Syncora to sell guarantee insurance subsidiary to Star Insurance for £323m
Bermuda-domiciled Syncora has agreed to sell its financial guarantee insurance subsidiary Syncora Guarantee to Star Insurance for $392.5m (£323.61m) in an all-cash deal.
Star Insurance is an entity organised by GoldenTree Asset Management on behalf of the latter’s managed funds and accounts.
The deal is expected to take place by the end of the fourth quarter of 2019 or during the first quarter of 2020.
Syncora Guarantee, which is based in New York, offers financial guarantee insurance on the debt obligations of issuers across the world. The company guarantees US municipal bonds, debt backed by utilities and selected infrastructure projects, asset-backed securities, specialised risks, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and others.
The holding company said that it received solicitations of interest from dozens of potential buyers.
Syncora CEO and president Frederick Hnat said: “This agreement is the culmination of years of hard work and focus on our core strategies of risk reduction, asset monetization and enhancing value for our shareholders.
“We are very pleased with the terms of the agreement with Star Insurance, an entity organized by GoldenTree, one of the largest independent asset managers focused on credit, and believe that it helps accomplish our long stated goal of optimizing shareholder value and returning capital to shareholders.”