Offshore vessel owner Bourbon of France has sealed a deal to sell dozens of its vessels – and then immediately take them all back on charter.

The company signed the agreement with China’s ICBC Financial Leasing. Bourbon had previously revealed its intentions to do this deal several weeks ago. The plan involves selling up to 51 units, worth around US $2.5 Bn, and taking them back on bareboat charter for a period of 10 years each.

Of the 51 vessels earmarked for sale, 24 are already at work with 27 others being newbuilds, all set for delivery within the next 14 months.

The deal will help ease Bourbon’s debt burden as it works through its major newbuilding programme. The company will also retain first right of refusal should ICBC decide to sell any of the vessels.

Chief executive Christian Lefevre commented: “This operation won’t affect our fleet standardisation strategy as the vessels in the bareboat lease come from our vessel series; they have been designed and built to our standards and Bourbon retains full operational responsibility for its vessels.

“This initial phase of ‘Transforming the beyond’ allows us to prepare for our growth plan beyond 2015 with stronger financial backing.”