Global Ship Lease refinances $219.4 million of floating-rate debt

By Wendy Van Sickle

Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 25 – Global Ship Lease, Inc. has agreed to a new senior secured debt facility to refinance its outstanding $219.4 million senior secured debt facility, which will extend the maturity date to December 2026 from September 2024, among other things, according to a news release Tuesday.

The new debt facility will also amend certain covenants in the company’s favor, strengthen the company’s ability to sustain dividends throughout market cycles and release three vessels from the facility’s collateral basket at an unchanged rate of Libor plus 300 basis points.

The newly unencumbered vessels were subsequently used as collateral for a new $60 million syndicated senior secured debt facility, priced at Libor plus 275 bps, which the company plans to use to fully repay its 10% junior debt facility and for general corporate purposes.

Global Ship also hedged its exposure to a potential rising interest rate environment by putting in place through the fourth quarter of 2026 a Libor cap of 0.75% on $484 million of floating-rate debt, which reduces over time and represents about half of the company’s outstanding floating-rate debt.

Global Ship Lease is a containership owner based in London.

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