U.S. barge operator Kirby to buy Penn Maritime for $295mln
Houston, Texas based barge operator Kirby Corporation (Kirby) said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Penn Maritime Inc. and Maritime Investments LLC (collectively Penn), which operate tank barges and tugboats for transportation of black oil products in the U.S. for $295 million in cash, stock, and retirement of the companies' debt, Ship & Bunker reports.
The announcement comes less than a month after Kirby completed the $116 million acquisition of Allied Transportation Company's fleet of barges and tugboats.
Penn operates 18 heated, double-hulled tank barges with a capacity of 1.9 million barrels and a product mix consisting mostly of refinery feedstocks, asphalt, and crude oil, along with and 16 tugboats.
Its customers include major oil companies and refiners, most of them current Kirby customers for inland tank barge services.
"Penn is a well-respected U.S. Jones Act coastal tank barge operator with a well-maintained fleet, and earns the majority of its revenue from term contracts with blue chip domestic and international oil and refining customers," said Kirby Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Pyne.
"Penn's fleet will extend our coastal product capabilities, particularly transporting asphalt, which we expect to benefit from the need to repair and upgrade aging highway infrastructure throughout the United States.
"Penn also has vessels operating in the Gulf Coast crude oil trade which is benefiting from the production and transport of shale-based crude, particularly out of the Eagle Ford shale formation."
The deal is expected to close next month.
