Milaha yesterday said its subsidiary Qatar Shipping has fully acquired two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers from Societe General.
Qatar Shipping acquired the remaining 60% stake in ‘Milaha Ras Laffan’ and ‘Milaha Qatar’, which were chartered to RasGas under a 25-year long-term fixed time agreement, a Milaha spokesman said in a communiqué to the Qatar Stock Exchange.
However, the communiqué was silent on the monetary aspects of the deal.
‘Milaha Ras Laffan’ and ‘Milaha Qatar’ have about 14 years and 16 years remaining, respectively, under the time charter agreement.
Both vessels were built by Samsung Heavy Industries.
Milaha Ras Laffan was built in 2004 with a capacity of 138,273 cu m, while Milaha Qatar was built in 2006 with 145,602 cu m.
“This transaction reflects the disciplined execution of our long-term strategy of investing in core businesses. We have a strong momentum and believe that we can sustain our growth and continue to execute on our strategy,” said Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani, chairman of Milaha.
Qatar Navigation had merged Qatar Shipping in April 2010, following the government directive to combine the operations of both the companies and subsequently the latter was delisted from the Qatari bourse.
“In order to inspire growth in investment and increase profitability for the benefit of the national economy of Qatar and its investing public, both Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Shipping received a direction from the government of Qatar to merge,” a bourse statement had said earlier.
Milaha Qatar was built in 2006 with a capacity of 145,602 cu m
