New York-headquartered tanker shipping company Gener8 Maritime, Inc. has entered into a senior secured credit facility for up to USD 259.6 million of debt financing for its Chinese VLCC newbuilding program to be drawn in connection with the deliveries of the first four of the company’s six Chinese new buildings.

Financing is being provided by Citibank, N.A., The Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), and the Bank of China (BOC).

“We expect to close on financing for the remaining two vessels in 2016. These agreements represent a key strategic milestone for our company as we continue to expand our fleet,” said Gener8 Maritime’s Chairman, Peter Georgiopoulos.

The Chinese newbuild facility closed on November 30, 2015, with the first drawdown being used to refinance the October 21, 2015 term loan facility with Citibank. The facility has a margin over LIBOR of 2.0%, and a 15 year amortization profile.

Pursuant to the Chinese newbuild facility, the debt financing will be secured by four Gener8 Maritime Chinese VLCC newbuildings, the Gener8 Strength, Gener8 Supreme, Gener8 Success and Gener8 Andriotis.

Leonidas Vrondissis, Gener8 Maritime’s Chief Financial Officer, added, “We believe the company is well positioned to focus on the deliveries of these newbuilds and to continue to execute upon our strategy laid out during our IPO. We believe that the ability to raise close to USD 2 billion in financing during 2015 demonstrates the commitment and support we have from our lenders and their belief in the prospects of our industry.”

Gener8 Maritime has a fully-delivered fleet of 47 vessels, including one time-chartered-in VLCC. Gener8’s owned fleet is comprised of 18 VLCC newbuildings and 28 vessels on the water, with a total carrying capacity of over 11.1 million deadweight tons (DWT), and average age on a DWT basis of less than 6 years upon delivery of the newbuildings.