Nordic American Tankers to Establish Nordic American Offshore to Purchase Six Platform Supply Vessels

Nordic American Tankers

announced today that it is coordinating the establishment of Nordic American Offshore Ltd. (NAO), a new company that plans to purchase, on certain conditions, six platform supply vessels (PSVs).  These ships were built in 2012 and 2013 by the Ulstein Group in Norway. The strategy of NAO is expected to be essentially the same as for NAT with dividend as an important element.   Nordic American Offshore is expected to undertake a private equity placement to finance at least 80% of the acquisition price of these vessels. 20% or less of the cost is expected to be financed via debt.    NAT and Ulstein Shipping AS will participate in the private placement with 15%/20% and 5% respectively. The NAT investment is planned to be about $50 million.   The establishment of Nordic American Offshore and the NAT investment in the new company do not in any way constitute a departure from NAT's commitment to a homogenous Suezmax tanker fleet. There will be no change as to how NAT operates its business, including how it determines quarterly dividends from its fleet of Suezmax tankers. Nordic American Offshore will