Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises GTLK on the lease of two cruise vessels to Havila Kystruten AS

A Clifford Chance cross-border team has advised GTLK Global Business ("GTLK"), Russia's largest leasing company, in connection with the ten-year lease of two vessels to Havila Kystruten AS ("Havila"), a Norwegian cruise operator.

In June 2019 GTLK agreed to purchase two coastal passenger vessels, 122.7 m in length and 22 m wide, to be built by the Turkish shipyard Tersan Tersanecilik San. Ve Tic A.S. based on a design prepared by Norway's Havyard Design & Solution. The vessels will be delivered on lease to Havila at the end of 2020 and enter operation in January 2021. They will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) and battery hybrid propulsion and will operate on the Norwegian coastal route between Bergen and Kirkenes under a concession granted by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications. GTLK has committed to invest EUR 171.1 million in these vessels.

The deal attests to GTLK's growing reputation in the sphere of international maritime leasing.

The Clifford Chance team was led by the global financial markets partners Oliver Hipperson in London and Victoria Bortkevicha in Moscow, supported by London associate Tom Capel and Moscow senior associate Vadim Turtsev.