– Continues to achieve favorable debt financing at materially lower cost of debt with new $1 billion facility at highly attractive 1.5% margin over SOFR

– Oversubscribed 8-bank facility demonstrates strong appetite for GSL debt from a globally diversified group of top-tier lenders

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) (the “Company”, Global Ship Lease” or “GSL”), a containership owner and lessor, announced that it has agreed a $1 billion syndicated loan facility (the “New Facility”) bearing an interest rate of SOFR + 1.5% and a duration of seven years. The Company intends to draw on this facility in tranches corresponding to the delivery of each of the 15 newbuildings announced in June of this year (the “Initial Newbuilds”), the scheduled dates for which span from late 2028 through 2030. Each of these vessels is contracted to commence time charter employment promptly upon delivery.

The 8-member syndicate is comprised of Bank of America as Bookrunner, Mandated Lead Arranger, Facility Agent and Security Agent, with Bank of China (Hong Kong), KfW IPEX, and ABN-AMRO as Mandated Lead Arrangers. CTBC and CaixaBank served as Lead Arrangers, with BOCOM (HK) and First Citizens Bank as Arrangers.

Tassos Psaropoulos, Chief Financial Officer of Global Ship Lease, commented: “We are pleased to announce this syndicated loan agreement that further de-risks our newbuilding program and provides us highly attractive financing terms with a diversified, world-class group of lenders that we have assembled. The oversubscribed facility involves top-tier banks spanning three continents, demonstrating the widespread recognition of GSL’s balance sheet strength, which is underpinned by prudent leverage, and robust, multi-year charter coverage. Being able to access this facility in tranches directly corresponding to the delivery of the vessels and the commencement of their multi-year charters is an ideal fit from both a risk and a cashflow perspective, providing comfort and certainty.

We have worked hard over the last few years to successfully transform our balance sheet and improve our access to increasingly competitively priced capital. Our new collaboration with a group of world-class lenders to establish the $1 billion loan facility at a margin 550bps below what was available to us just five years ago is evidence that our efforts have borne fruit. This is another important step forward in an area that is central to our ability to outperform in a highly competitive market, and we are pleased to continue delivering value to our shareholders.”

Global Ship Lease press release