Bermuda, December 12, 2018
Dear Shareholders,
We are pleased that Nordic American Offshore Ltd. (NYSE: NAO) has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement where Scorpio Offshore Investments Inc. has invested USD 5,000,000 in a private placement.
Nordic American Tankers presently owns about 16.1% in NAO and the Hansson family owns 13.5%, in total about 30 %. Following the investment in NAO by Scorpio, the NAT related entities have about 24%.
Scorpio will step into NAO to significantly strengthen and grow NAO. The price in the Private Placement is USD 0.42 per share. The changeover is strongly supported by all Nordic companies and myself.
Management and staff in NAT have a long standing cooperation with Scorpio key executives both via the NAT/NAO Monaco office and with Scorpio executives in New York – at the time under the umbrella of OMI, Stamford, Connecticut.
Scorpio has a long experience in the capital markets, having built up listed companies such as Scorpio Tankers (NYSE: STNG) and Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE: SALT) to industry leaders in their respective segments.
Through invitation to Scorpio as a new shareholder in NAO, it is natural that I step down as NAO Executive Chairman, handing over the roles to my friend Emanuele A. Lauro. Together with Scorpio, we are pleased to establish a structure that will secure the needs of NAO, their customers and shareholders. We are strong supporters of Emanuele Lauro and his team.
Going forward, colleagues and I look forward to focusing more on tankers. We shall build NAT further.
Sincerely,
Herbjørn Hansson
Chairman & CEO
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “expect,” “pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC’s petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.
Contacts:
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP
New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91
Web-site: www.nat.bm
Attachment
