GEORGE Prokopiou has clinched a $1.1bn sale-and-leaseback deal with CMB Financial Leasing for five 200,000 cu m LNG carriers.

The vessels, that were under Prokopiou-backed vehicle Pure Energy, belong to a series of larger-than-standard 200,000 cu m newbuildings that the Greek owner has ordered with an eye particularly on US gas exports.

In all, his Dynagas LNG shipping arm has ordered 14 of the vessels from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, out of which six have already been delivered and eight remain on order.

The five most recent orders were placed in 2023 and are scheduled for delivery in 2026-2027.

The move follows a few months after another Prokopiou-backed company, Nasdaq-listed Dynagas LNG Partners, completed a large sale-and-leaseback transaction with another Chinese lessor.

That was with China Development Bank Financial Leasing and was for four older LNG carriers.

It used the $345m in proceeds, together with company funds, to fully refinance a $675m credit facility that had an amount of $408m outstanding.

The Prokopiou family holds about 42% of Dynagas Partners.

Shanghai-based CMBFL was advised on the Pure Energy transaction by Watson Farley & Williams’ Hong Kong Assets Structured and Finance team.

“This transaction is a testament of CMBFL’s capacity to support its clients in capital intensive projects such as this one which involves the financing of very large LNG carriers,” said partner Christoforos Bisbikos.

“This demonstrates our ability in handling complex cross-border transactions,” he said of WFW’s role in the deal.

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