Kirby Corporation announced the signing of an agreement to purchase certain inland marine assets from an undisclosed competitor for $68 MM.
The asset purchase will consist of nine specialty pressure tank barges, four 30,000-bbl tank barges, and three 1320 horsepower inland towboats. The closing of the asset purchase is expected to occur by July 15, 2017, and is subject to certain customary conditions. The acquisition is expected to be paid for using funds available under Kirby's revolving credit facility.
"The purchase of these pressure barges and accompanying towboats boosts our ability to meet our customers' transport demands for specialty cargos such as liquefied petroleum gas,” said David Grzebinski, Kirby's President and Chief Executive Officer. “The addition of these recently constructed, well maintained pressure barges will enhance the performance of our inland barge fleet. The four 30,000-bbl tank barges will fit seamlessly in our clean fleet which primarily moves petrochemicals and refined products. We expect the transaction to be $0.01–$0.02 per share accretive to 2017 earnings."
