This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk00: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Capital Product Partners Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. We have with us Mr. Jerry Calacaratos, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Spiros Leosis, Chief Commercial Officer, and Mr. Nikos Kalopoulos-Karakos, Chief Financial Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session, at which time, if you have a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, November 13, 2023. The statements in today's conference call that are not historical facts, including our expectations regarding cash generation, equity returns, and future debt levels, our ability to pursue growth opportunities Our expectations or objectives regarding future distribution amounts, capital reserve amounts, distribution coverage, future earnings, capital allocation, as well as our expectations regarding market fundamentals and the employment of our vessels, including re-delivery dates and charter rates, may be forward-looking statements as such as defined in Section 21 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the stated or forecasted results to be materially different from those anticipated. Unless required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether because of future events, new information, a change in our views or expectations to conform to actual results or otherwise. We assume no responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We make no prediction or statement about the performance of our common units. I would now like to hand the call over to your speaker today, Mr. Calo Gratos. Please go ahead, sir.
spk02: Thank you, and thank you all for joining us today. As a reminder, we'll be referring to the supporting slides available on our website as we go through today's presentation. In addition to our quarterly earnings, we announced today an important strategic transaction for the partnership. In the interest of time, we will go through a shorter than usual presentation of our quarterly earnings, and we'll then move on to the transaction and what it all means for capital product partners. Starting with slide three and the partnership's financial performance, net income for the third quarter of 23 was $17 million. Our Board of Directors has declared a cash distribution of 15 cents per common unit for the third quarter of 2023. The third quarter cash distribution will be paid today, November 13th, to common unit holders of record on November 6th. Finally, following the Cape Agamemnon's delivery to her new owners last week, the partnership's current fleet charter cash at 100% with the remaining charter duration corresponding to 6.5 years and contracted revenue backlog of more than 1.7 billion. Now turning to slide 4, total revenue for the third quarter of 2023 was 95.5 million compared to 71.9 million during the third quarter of 22. The increase in revenue was primarily attributable to the revenue contributed by the four new building vessels delivered to the partnership between the fourth quarter of 22 and the second quarter of 23, as well as the increase in the daily rate earned by two of our LNG carriers since September 2022. Total expenses for the third quarter of 23 were 51 million, compared to 40.4 million the third quarter of 22. Total vessel operating expenses during the third quarter of 23 amounted to 22.3 million compared to 17 million during the third quarter of last year. The increase in vessel operating expenses was mainly due to the net increase in the average number of vessels in our fleet and costs incurred during the scheduled maintenance of certain of our ships. Total expenses for the third quarter of 23 also include vessel depreciation and amortization of 21.9 million compared to 16.2 million in the third quarter of last year. The increase in depreciation and amortization during the third quarter of 23 was mainly attributable to the net increase in the average size of our fleet. General administrative expenses for the third quarter of 23 amounted to 2.6 million compared to 2.8 million in the third quarter of 22. Interest expense and finance costs increased to 27.8 million for the third quarter of 23 compared to 14.9 million for the third quarter of last year. The increase in interest expense and finance cost was mainly attributable to the increase in the partnership's average indebtedness and the increase in the weight average interest rate to 6.5 percent from 4.4 percent in the third quarter of 22. The partnership recorded net income of 17 million for the quarter compared to net income of 11.5 million. That is excluding the gain on sale of vessels we recorded in the third quarter of last year. Net income per common unit for the quarter was 84 cents compared to 57 cents per common unit in the third quarter of last year, once again excluding the gain on sale of vessels recorded a year ago. On slide 5, you can see the details of our operating surplus calculations that determine the distributions to our unit holders compared to the previous quarter. Operating surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure. We have generated approximately $41.7 million in cash from operations for the quarter before accounting for the capital reserve. We allocated $34.4 million to the capital reserve, a decrease of $0.6 million compared to the previous quarter due to the net decrease in the rate of amortization of our debt. After deducting to the capital reserve, the adjusted operating surplus amounted to $7.2 million. On slide 6, you can see the details of our balance sheet. As of the end of the third quarter, the partners' capital amounted to $664.5 million, an increase of $26.1 million compared to $638.4 million as of the end of last year. The increase reflects net income for the nine-month ended September 30th, other comprehensive income of $2.1 million relating to the net effect of the cross-currency swap agreement we designated as an accounting hedge, and the amortization associated with the equity incentive plan of $2.8 paid during the period in a total amount of 9.2 million, and the cost of repurchasing our common units under our unit repurchase program for an aggregate amount of 4.1 million. Total debt increased by 303.1 million to 1.6 billion, compared to 1.3 billion as of year-end 2022. The increase is attributable primarily to the drawdown of a Total costs of the end of the quarter amounted to 108.5 million, including restricted costs of 11.7 million, which represents the minimum liquidity requirements under our financing arrangements. At this point, I would like to move to the second part of the presentation, and in particular, to slide number eight. I'm very pleased to talk about today what we consider a milestone transaction for the partnership and one that I believe will propel Capital Product Partners to a new chapter after 16 years of public presence as an MLP. I would like to start with the decision of the board to change the partnership's name. The new name, which we expect to take effect by year end, is Capital New Energy Carriers LP, and it will come with a new ticker symbol. I'm starting with this symbolic move as it signifies that what we're aiming to do here is more than an asset transaction. It is a transformation of the partnership to reflect our new focus primarily on LNG shipping, but also the wider gas business related to the energy transition, and the intention as part of this transaction to move away from the MLP model and convert into a corporation. This strategic transformation will be underpinned by the acquisition of 11 latest-generation two-stroke LNG carriers in a $3.1 billion transaction, with delivery starting from later this quarter and up to March 2027. The first five vessels delivering this and next year have medium- to long-term charters in place, with revenue-weighted average frame period of 7.5 years to highly reputable counterparties, with a total of over $1.4 billion in contracted revenues. Once all vessels have been delivered, we expect CPLP, or CNEC if you prefer, to transform to the largest US-listed operator of two-stroke LNG carriers compared to the current fleet of other US-listed companies, and one of the largest US-listed shipping companies by enterprise value. Importantly, together with a focus on the LNG business, CPLP has committed to the opportunistic divestment from its container vessels, while it has secured the right of first refusal on two very large ammonia carriers and two liquid CO2 carriers, which are expected to play a significant role during the energy transition together with natural gas. Now turning to the next slide, you can see how we expect to fund this strategic acquisition. Total vessel acquisition cost is 3.1 billion, which translates roughly into 8.4 times full-year EBITDA for the 11 new LNG carriers. This estimate is based on the employment secured for the five vessels per day for the remainder six, in line with the current medium- to long-term period market. We believe the acquisition to be attractively priced in view of the uniqueness and size of this fleet, comprising only latest-generation mega-LNG carriers, the tenor and the quality of the contracted cash flows, as well as the delivery dates of the vessels and the particular of the open vessels, which coincide very well with the next phase of significant liquefaction capacity coming online from 2026 onwards, as we will discuss later. The acquisition will be funded by a rights offering of 500 million, which is open to all our unit holders. In addition to commercial debt and an attractively priced 220 million unsecured seller's credit provided by Capital Maritime to ensure that the transaction is fully capitalized even without the sale of any container assets. Turning to the next slide, we describe in more detail the 500 million rights issued on the seller's credit. We chose the rights issue path because we wanted to make sure that all existing unit holders have the right to participate in this transformative transaction. Capital Maritime is backstopping 100% of the transaction without any fee at an attractive price of a minimum of $14.25, which translates into a 9.6 premium to the last closing price. Holders of common units as of record date of November 24th will receive the right to acquire up to 1.7 units for each unit they hold. The closing of the rights offerings is expected to take place on December 15th. As far as the seller's credit is concerned, it is attractively priced at 7.5% all-in. It is unsecured and has a maturity in June 2027. We believe that the capital maritime support is an important part of this transaction and demonstrates capital maritime's continued alignment with the long-term success of the partnership. In the appendix on slide 24, You can find more details with regard to the deal structure and timing of payments. On the next slide, you will find the 11 vessels together with the breakdown of total contracted revenues and average day rate for each year, as well as their deliveries. These are all sister vessels built or under construction at Hyundai Seabed in South Korea, the largest sea builder in the world. These truly very high-specification vessels represent the latest generation of propulsion, containment system, reliquefaction plant, and energy-saving technologies in LNG shipping. Importantly, the propulsion arrangement with mega, low-pressure engines and sub-generators ensures a reduction of methane slip by 50%, even compared to first-generation low-pressure two-stroke vessels, and close to 90% compared to TFTE vessels. The first vessel, which was delivered from Hyundai to Capital Maritime at the end of October, is on a three-year, highly lucrative charter to Qatar Energy and Trading. The Axios II is expected to commence a bearable charter to Boni Gas and Trading in the first quarter of 2025, and in the meantime, we expect here to be fixed for a 12- to 15-month time charter before year-end. The Asos, which delivers in May 2024, is fixed on a 10-year charter to Tokyo Gas, a Japanese utility, similar to the Apostolos that follows thereafter, which is fixed to Jera. Finally, the Acturas will also enter into a seven-year bearable charter in July of 2024 with Pony Gas and Trading. The remaining six vessels are not yet committed and have highly attractive delivery dates as today's shipyards offer typical capacity in the second half of 2027 onwards. Turning to the next slide, after the delivery of all 11 additional LNG carriers, Capital will have a very modern fleet of 18 two-stroke LNG vessels, the largest in the U.S. public markets as of this point, with 6.5 years of average firm charter duration that can extend to 9.6 years, including options. I will now hand over the floor to Spiros Leousis, our chief commercial officer, who will talk about the prospects of the LNG market, and especially from 2026 onwards, where we have the most exposure. Importantly, Spiros will also explain why we believe that two-stroke vessels like ours will gain even more traction and value going forward as environmental regulations and market-based measures become more prevalent.
spk03: Thank you, Jerry, and good morning, everybody. This is indeed a very exciting transaction from where I'm sitting. As you know, and you can also see on slide 13, LNG is prevailing as the main supply source of natural gas, as the ability to move natural gas in the form of LNG beyond the constraints of the pipeline not only gives producers and consumers more flexibility, but has become increasingly more important due to geopolitical issues. Hence, LNG shipping is an integral part largest owners worldwide of modern two-stroke LNG vessels. Then to the next slide. The global liquefied natural gas market capacity is expected to increase in the coming years by 70 percent by 2030. The chart that you see on this slide refers to the global LNG production capacity, which is expected to exceed 750 million tons annually in 2030, up from 465 million tons in 2023. The increase in liquefaction involves projects under construction that have already received the final investment decision. A crucial element for the prospects of the LNG shipping market is that most of the new production will be installed in the U.S. Gulf, with the main buyers located in the Far East and Europe, increasing the demand for LNG shipping due to higher tonnage. 2023 so far has been another very strong year in terms of FIDs for new liquefaction projects, With next decade, SEMPRA and venture global projects taking FID amounting to additional 50 million tons per annum of FID from 2026 and 2027 onwards. We expect the trend for FIDs to continue as a number of projects in the U.S. are reaching maturity as government support around the world for new projects has been an important catalyst. We expect the new players and their off-takers to drive the demand for new vessels when our open ships will be delivering from the Aegean. On the next slide, slide 15, we'll discuss the supply of LNG carriers. Here, you can see the composition of the global LNG fleet. The LNG fleet on the water stands at 736 vessels, and the order book is around 300 vessels. The order book to fleet ratio is slightly lower than the peak of 52% of last January, as new builds deliver and ordering has slowed down. From the total of about 300 new vessels, only 29 vessels currently are open between now and 2028, equivalent to 10% of the existing order book. Thus, the vast majority of orders are committed to projects like the Qatar expansion, LNT Canada, and others. Worth noting that the capital open positions will represent around a fifth of the market for uncommitted vessels, positioning us very well at a time when we expect demand for new vessels to accelerate. Modern vessels, like the ones under the acquisition, are larger and more economical, incorporating significant changes in propulsion technology and LNG tank construction. At the same time, as emissions regulations tighten with EXI, CII and other regulatory initiatives, and charters are placing an increased focus on ESG and specifically carbon dioxide emission equivalents, steam and DFD vessels will become even less competitive going forward, with two-stroke vessels commanding a significant premium, both in terms of charter rate and utilization. The older, smaller steam turbine fleet is expected to be gradually phased out, either through scrapping or repurposing in storage and regasification projects. We should point out that the new vessels are equipped with a megapropulsion arrangement, which allows for a low gas supply pressure and is better suited for use of boil-up gas as a fuel, while at the same time having lower capital expenditure, operational expenditure, and NOx emissions than current generation engines. The key driver behind the popularity of the new arrangement is the exhaust recycling system, which improves methane slip by up to 50% as we mentioned previously when combined with sub-generators. We'll discuss more on the benefits of the new vessels in the following slides. looking a bit more into the unit freight cost calculations and the relevant differential between the different type of vessels. As we mentioned above, the key drivers for the differential are more efficient propulsion with savings up to 100 tons per day of fuel, the larger size of vessel, 174,000 cubic meters versus 145,000 or 160,000 cubic meters, the improved containment system resulting in lower boil-off, so 0.03 versus 0.15 daily evaporation of cargo, the lower long-term maintenance costs due to simpler proportional arrangements, and from 2024, the tightening of emissions regulations with the monetization of carbon dioxide and methane. On the first graph on the right, we have calculated the equivalent daily differential for a U.S.-Japan round-trip voyage between a two-stroke vessel and a steamship or a DST. The main parameter is the commodity price, and as we can see, in a $10 per mmppu environment, The daily difference to a DFT exceeds $30,000 per day, while to a steamship is more than double to that, exceeding $70,000 per day. Worth noting that today's LNG JKM price is around $17 per MBTU. On the next graph, we have calculated the emission profile for each type of ship, with the two-stroke vessels having less than half of the emissions, reducing significantly the EPS cost for the charterer. For a US-EU trade, post-2026, when 100% of the emissions will need to be accounted for with emission allowances, a steamship will have to incur an additional cost versus our vessels of around $17,000 per day, assuming an $80 per ton of CO2. Based on the unit freight cost and emission differential, we expect that new vessels will be in high demand for at least the next decade, as fleet renewal processes, while at the same time they will be able to command a significant premium corresponding to the efficiency gain the charterer will record when utilizing them. This is already apparent today, as we have a clear three-tier market, but with the gradually increasing pressure on all their vessels from EXI and, importantly, from ETS, we expect to see even larger premium to be captured by two short vessels like ours. The next slide provides us with a snapshot of the market outlook. The main two drivers for a healthy LNG freight market are the shipping capacity required to transfer the new LNG that will come online and the need for fleet renewal. With a conservative assumption that only vessels above 30 years will head to scrapyard, the shipping balance for 2026 is in deficit by 7 vessels, while for 2027 this is up to 57 vessels in additional requirements. While we expect that part of this demand will be covered by new orders, the current CDF capacity in both Korea and China cannot support the required growth, leaving the market short of vessels and adding significant value to our 2026 and 2027 open positions. Overall, we will aim to be opportunistic in our approach as to when we will fix these vessels, depending on what we see in terms of market dynamics. While in the past we have fixed vessels only a few months after contracting them from the CPI, the majority of the vessels have been fixed closer to delivery in order to capitalize on the scarcity value. In addition, in our chartering strategy, we will make sure that we keep staggered expirations in order to maintain exposure to the market and reduce market cycle risk. This is all from me. I will now hand the floor over to Jerry. I'll be happy to answer your questions later.
spk02: Thank you, Spiro. Now turning to slide number 18 and the pro forma impact of the 11 fleet acquisition, it is clear that this is a transformative transaction across all metrics. Importantly, the LNG fleet contracted revenues for the partnership increased by 127% to 2.5 billion, providing strong cash flow visibility and secured income going forward. Take into account also our container fleet, total pro forma contracted revenues would amount to 3.1 billion. Pairing now to pro forma EBITDA, assuming for the 11 LNG carriers full-year employment under their firm charters and $100,000 per day for the six and six vessels in line with the current period market, the estimated annual pro forma EBITDA would increase by 153% to $614 million, combined with the last four quarters EBITDA of the existing fleet. In the same manner, taking the last four quarters operating surplus of BRZ's CPLP and adding the incremental EBITDA from the 11 LNG carriers on a full-year basis, less debt amortization and interest cost, generates a 206% increase in free cash flow generation of the partnership. And while we expect to have divested from a number of container vessels by the time our full LNG fleet delivers, These pro forma numbers give you a sense of magnitude with regard to the impact of the 11 LNG carrier acquisition on our future cash flow generating capacity. Please also refer to the presentation appendix on slide number 26 for the assumptions behind these numbers. Finally, our LNG fleet age is expected to decrease to 3.2 years with assets that have a 35-year useful life. Overall, we believe that this transaction builds further on our existing focus on long-term cash flow visibility, but also provides attractive exposure to a strengthening LNG market with best-in-class modern vessels. Moving to the next slide, as we have discussed in previous calls, CPLP has been trading over the last few quarters at a large discount to NAV. Despite value-creating transactions such as the Diamond S spin-off and additional equity capital, this picture has not changed materially. We believe that moving away from the diversified fleet model and transforming the fleet into one of the largest, if not the largest, pure-play LNG and energy transition gas company EU's public markets, and by converting the partnership into a corporation with customary corporate governance and a capital allocation policy, we should be able over time to trade in line with our peers, which could translate the substantial upside to our current unit price levels. This can be seen more clearly on the next slide, where we describe the pro forma NAV for the acquisition on a per-unit base after the equity offering, assuming an issue price of $14.25. This is based on recent charter-attached third-party appraisals that we received for our existing fleet, as well as debt, cash, and working capital as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, adjusted for the charter-attached value of the 11 LNG carriers fleet in line with third-party appraisals on a fully delivered basis, and the estimated debt and cash adjustments required for their acquisitions. At the current unit price levels, CPLP is trading at 45% of its performant AV, compared to 100% of its closest peer, FlexLNG. As we execute against our newly set-out business model over the next few quarters, we believe that we should be able to increasingly close this gap, benefiting all our unit holders. Turning to the next slide, the partnership has, among others, committed to divest from its remaining container vessels, whose charter-attached latest fleet appraisal is close to $900 million, which translates to an estimated net asset value north of $400 million. While we see the container charter market increasingly under pressure, which has and should also further affect asset values going forward, a large part of our container fleet valuation is protected as all of our container to long-term charters in place, with their value being underpinned by the cash flows of these charters. Hence, we will opportunistically evaluate the potential sale of its asset against its cash flow and their expectations with regard to residual value, compared also to other opportunities in the LNG and wider gas markets. Finally, as we saw earlier, CPLP will have a significant cash flow generation potential after this transaction is completed. Despite the materially higher unit count after the rights issue is completed, the common unit distribution guidance of 15 cents per quarter remains unchanged. As the company over the next few months converts into a corporation, we intend to also communicate a new capital allocation strategy. Overall, and subject to the final decision of the Board, charter markets, financing and refinancing opportunities, as well as the timing of the container sales and availability of other growth opportunities, The expectation is to move to a floating distribution or dividend policy going forward, which is expected to be defined as a percentage of the income and cash flow generation of the company. This is to be balanced with allocating capital to growth opportunities in the LNG and energy transition markets, as well as repaying debt. Overall, I should stress that I am personally very pleased to announce today this transformative transaction, and I hope that our existing union holders will take advantage of the right taking the partnership to its next chapter with the aim of creating long-term shareholder value. I'm confident that our exceptional LNG fleet, our high-quality customer base, our contracted cash flows, and our uniquely positioned LNG and energy transition shipping opportunities will make capital new energy carriers the bellwether in the industry. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
spk00: Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the Star keys. Our first question comes from the line of Ben Nolan with Stiefel. Please proceed with your question. Thanks.
spk05: Hey, Jerry, first of all, congratulations. I know you guys have been trying to do something transformative for a long time, and this obviously is that. So I have a couple of questions. First of all, I am curious on how you came to the valuation of the assets. And I ask because, you know, I'm There were third-party valuations, but it seems like relative to at least, you know, some of the market levels that we've seen for new builds, et cetera, it's a little elevated above that. I'm curious if you could just talk to that a little bit. Thank you.
spk02: Thank you, Ben. The prices and the valuation were, of course, negotiated on behalf of the partnership by by Evercore and Fried Frank. The discussions and negotiations around the acquisition price were based on various metrics, but that includes third-party charter attached appraisals and, of course, cash flow multiples, cash flow valuation, and other considerations and parameters around the transaction. But I think taking into account the contracted gas flows of the five vessels, the fact that seven out of the 11 vessels are delivered X yards, so CNPC is taking the the carry cost of paying pre-delivery installments and whatnot. I think you'll find that the evaluation is quite fair. I think the best indication of that is that the EBITDA multiple is around 8.4 times, and that takes into account the locked-in charters and the $100,000 market for the remaining six ships. Even if you think it's 95 or 105, of course, this does not change materially, which I think as a multiple of cash flows, transactions around these levels. So I think you have to take into account that these are charter-attached valuations, many of the charters that are in place are highly lucrative. We cannot disclose the exact rates, but I think if you look at the revenues that we list on the relevant slide, you can understand that these are quite lucrative charters. You'll also see that two of them are bare boats, right? So they don't have OPEX. So looking at the cash flow, the fact that seven out of the 11 vessels are delivered X yard, I think that should make a big difference. Today, if you go to a shipyard, they will quote you for a second half 2027 vessel, $260 million up front, and then 10 percent probably after six or 12 months. And then if you continue to look at this pre-delivery installment cost plus the supervision cost, a delivery cost vessel in 2027-28 in the current interest rate environment is probably well north or close to $300 million.
spk05: Yeah, and again, I sort of appreciate that. As it relates to the cash flow side, I think $100,000, as you said, is certainly reasonable. How are you thinking about actually the timing of locking those in, both for the new bills and then there's the one that's... shorter contract, when do you anticipate being able to, again, have cash flow visibility or certainty associated with those charters?
spk02: Spiro, would you like to take this one?
spk03: Sure, yeah. Hi, Ben. I think, you know, currently we have discussions with charters regarding our vessels on a regular basis. I mean, we see, you know, there are a few tenders out there which will participate. But I think, as we mentioned earlier in the slides, I think the important part of our strategy so far has been to capitalize on the... let's say, of supply of vessels. And I think that's what we aim to do with this. We think that these vessels are highly desirable vessels, and the delivered dates line up for a very favorable LNGC market, aligning with the new project charter. And as we said previously, I think there are two prospective charters. The one is the new projects and their offtake that will need to be covered with new vessels. But we are also focusing on big replacement projects where effectively there are, you know, the big charters out there who have a fleet of steam turbine vessels. And with the new EPS regulation coming into play, I think there will be a huge drive for replacing those vessels.
spk05: And then lastly for me, just as it relates to financing and maybe broadly speaking, assuming the debt that you lay out here, it would seem as though the company... soon to be no longer partnership with the company. To me, it looks like it's relatively highly levered, obviously, to the extent that there's a healthy component of equity in the container shipping business, and that can be monetized to deliver the balance sheet, then it gets there. But how are you thinking about leverage, or how are you thinking maybe about the timing of the sale of the container shipping fleet in order to reduce some of that debt?
spk02: So, in terms of financing, we are at various stages of commitment, especially for the vessels that deliver next year. And overall, at fairly attractive terms, I mean, you should expect some were between 70% to 75% of the acquisition price to be financed with a margin, you know, well below 200 basis points, probably closer to 190. Some of it might have some fixed debt component as we are looking at certain financing arrangements like JOLCOs. But I think we have a pretty good idea as to how we will finance these vessels. Most of them have either very advanced term sheets or commitments. And overall, I think, as we have shown in the past, we have a long track record of using diversified sources of financing. the years, I mean, from European commercial debt, Chinese and Japanese, the JOKOs, Asia-Pacific banks. So I think we will make sure that we will take advantage of these long tenor charters to push down cost of debt as much as possible. And there is also the attractive component for the financing, which is the $220 million secured credit facility, which is effectively, if you want, an insurance provided by Capital Maritime to make sure that even if the container sales do not happen overnight, there is always liquidity to execute. Coming back to your point with regard to leverage, we have nine unlevered container ships sitting unbalanced. And we are going to look at the market to start divesting from these assets. I think we're going to be opportunistic. We have a very good track record in the S&P market overall. And one does not want to rush this. But the fact that we also have mostly medium to long-term charters on these container ships means that that value is partly locked in. So I think it will be, we will opportunistically approach the market. There is no hurry, I think. hurried exits in shipping typically do not bode well. And we will compare what we can get in the S&P market compared to that cash flow and, of course, other opportunities or the opportunity cost for that We have, I think, both in terms of LTV. Today our LTV stands just sort of net LTV, just sort of 50%. We have quite a bit of room as not only our container ships are underlevered, but also a lot of the original LNG carriers have quite a bit of low levels of debt.
spk05: All right. Well, I appreciate you taking my questions. I'll turn it over. Thank you. Thank you, Ben.
spk00: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Omar Nakoda with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.
spk04: Thank you. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Hi, Omar. Hi, Jerry. Not much really for me. I think it was pretty much, you know, you spelled it out pretty clearly, I think, in the release and the presentation and just now in the Q&A with Ben. Maybe just a couple of follow-ups, you know, maybe perhaps on the sale of the container ships. I did want to ask, you said you're you know, perhaps you'll leave money on the table. When you think about the opportunity to sell the containers, how can you envision that as in, do you see, Could you see an M&A deal evolving, or is it more, you think, just sort of a drip-feed, sale-and-purchase market-style series of sales?
spk02: I think we will definitely be open to all kinds of transactions. It could be vessel by vessel, as we know very well to do, or it could be bigger transactions involving not just cash. We will definitely be open, but we will, of course, look at every transaction in its merits. Overall, what you see is that both liner companies as well as... Container shipowning companies have done, obviously, very well over the last couple of years. And as such, there is additional liquidity. Our assets are very attractive assets. I mean, our $13,000 Today, if you wanted to build them, probably the value would be closer to $150 million, $160 million. So there is the replacement cost of really latest generation ships with 10-year charters, two very good names. Our 5,000 wide-beam ships are very much in demand. Our 10,000 TU ships, which again have long-term charters, we have recently modified their bow and and installed scrubbers and they have good cash flow so there is quite there's quite a lot of quite attractive assets and we think there are out a number of different players with different motives that might want to invest in those type of assets but to your question absolutely open as to how we will do it and when we will do it okay thank you and then maybe just a follow up on
spk04: Spirits went over, you know, plans on being able to fix out, and obviously there's good shifts. But I just wanted to ask, kind of in terms of liquidity in the term market as it is now, I mean, you still have plenty of time until the delivery of these shifts, but just kind of if you can give a sense of what does the liquidity look like right now in the term charter market for LNG vessels, especially new buildings, it does sound like perhaps You know, a year ago, there was a good amount of activity. Things perhaps got slow, but just wanted to get your sense on what does the liquidity look like right now in the tar market?
spk02: Spiro, you want to take that? Yeah, sure. So, I think...
spk03: You know, last year we saw liquidity on the back of a number of open vessels that were hitting the market at the same time. Now, I think the number of those open vessels, it's going down. And since we are probably talking 2016-17, I think up to now we're still competing against project ships, meaning vessels that were placed in order specifically for the project that we're shipping. I think going forward we expect to see increased liquidity. As I said, the main driver for that liquidity will probably be replacement, fleet replacement projects. There are a lot of charters, especially in the Far East, whose fleet consists predominantly from older generation ships, and I think these are probably the guys that would create a lot of demand for new vessels. Liquidity in the market, in terms of supply, as we mentioned, there are not a lot of ships that are there to be chartered. I think there will be, and we'll probably have a spillover in the DFPEs, so effectively the two-stroke market taking to, let's say, pushing a bit the DFPE market as well.
spk04: Okay, thank you. That's it for me, Cyril and Jerry. Thank you, and congrats on the transaction. Thank you, Omar.
spk00: Thank you. Our next question comes in line of Liam Burke with B Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.
spk01: Yes, sir. Thank you. Hi, Jerry. Hi, Spiros. Hi, Liam. Jerry, how much do you anticipate any significant hurdles on converting from an MLP to traditional corporate structure?
spk02: Not really. I think it's only a question of Capital Maritime, the GP, and the special committee of the board now sitting down to negotiate the terms and the form that the corporate governance will take going forward. Both sides have committed to do this within six months. And personally, to be an important step in this process, as we will leave the MLP mantle behind us, if you want. Fair enough.
spk01: Does it affect any of your debt agreements when you make that conversion from an MLP to a corporate?
spk02: Well, we'll examine all this in more detail over the coming months. We do not expect to have any triggers, but of course this will be part of the analysis going forward. Great. Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Lynn.
spk00: Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to join the question queue, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. We'll pause a moment to allow for any other questions. I don't see any other questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back to you for final comments.
spk02: Thank you all for joining us today on this slightly longer call than usual. We are always available if there are additional questions after this call. Please don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you.
spk00: Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
Disclaimer