Ship Finance International announced the agreement to acquire three containerships from an unrelated third party.

The vessels are currently under construction and are expected to be delivered to Ship Finance between 4Q 2015 and 1Q 2016, subject to customary closing conditions and approval by the charterer. The vessels have similar technical specifications as their recently delivered 8,700 TEU container vessels, with the latest in eco-design features giving them a very competitive operational performance.

The vessels have been chartered out for a minimum period of five years to a leading European-based container line, with options to extend the charter period by up to two years. The charter backlog will increase by approximately $200 million and the aggregate annual EBITDA contribution from the vessels is estimated to more than $30 million on average during the five year firm period of the charter. The Company will arrange financing for the vessels in due course.

Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of Ship Finance Management AS, said in a comment: "We are very pleased to further grow our presence in the containership segment with these state-of-the-art vessels, and at the same time expand our chartering counterparties with one of the leading container lines. Our charter backlog and long-term distribution capacity is building in an accretive manner, and there is still significant capacity for more investments without raising additional equity capital."