By: musicwhiz This evening, FSL Trust surprised me by announcing the acquisition of three (3) container ships from Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, a listed Taiwan-based shipping company and the 16th largest container liner company in the world. After all, it was less than a month ago on April 21, 2008 when FSLT announced that it had acquired 2 crude oil tankers from Geden Shipping (a Turkey-based company) for US$140 million. I was not expecting another acquisition so quickly, to be frank. With this most recent acquisition, FSLT has fulfilled its target of US$300 million of acquisitions for FY 2008, with just 5 months into FY 2008. In fact, the acquired vessels make up a total of US$350 million, which means FSLT needs to draw down on its remaining US$200 million credit facility AND arrange with its lenders to finance the remaining US$50 million. In the press release, it was mentioned that FSLT Management are trying to increase the second credit line to about US$265 million in order to acquire all 3 vessels. The first 2 have been acquired on a 12-year lease and will be delivered by end-May 2008 and end-June 2008. For the third vessel, financing and documentation has yet to be completed and assuming FSLT can complete it soon, the vessel will be delivered by end-Oct 2008. Read more...