TOPT Top Tankers Inc. (MM)

ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TOP Tankers Inc (NASDAQ:TOPT) (the "Company") announced today that it has entered into agreements to acquire three drybulk panamax vessels from unrelated third parties as follows: -- One 2001 built panamax vessel of 75,928 dwt, built in Japan. -- One 2000 built panamax vessel of 75,933 dwt, built in Japan. -- One 2000 built panamax vessel of 75,681 dwt, built in Japan. The vessels are scheduled to be delivered to the Company between September 2007 and March 2008 and to enter into spot market trading. Evangelos Pistiolis, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Consistent with our commitment to expand in the drybulk sector, we are increasing our drybulk fleet to six vessels. These three high-quality panamax drybulk vessels are expected to be accretive to our 2008 earnings and to generate significant cash-flow." The aggregate purchase price of the vessels is approximately $222 million. The Company intends to finance the acquisition through new loan facilities, working capital, and the proceeds from future capital raisings. About TOP Tankers Inc TOP Tankers Inc provides international transportation services of seaborne crude oil, petroleum products and bulk commodities. After taking into consideration all expected drybulk vessel acquisitions and the delivery of the M/T Restless and M/T Victorious to their new owners, the Company will operate a fleet of 20 tankers, consisting of 12 double-hull Suezmax tankers and 8 double-hull Handymax tankers, with a total carrying capacity of approximately 2.2 million dwt, of which 87% are sister ships, and six drybulk vessels of approximately 0.4 million dwt. Thirteen of the Company's 20 tankers will be on time charter contracts with an average term of over three years with all but four of the time charters including profit sharing agreements. Three of our six drybulk vessels will have, upon their delivery, time charters contracts for an average period of 18 months. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect" "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, failure of a seller to deliver one or more vessels or of a buyer to accept delivery of one or more vessels, inability to procure acquisition financing, default by one or more charterers of our ships, changes in the demand for crude oil and petroleum products, changes in demand for drybulk shipping capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. Contact: Michael Mason (investors) Stamatis Tsantanis, CFO Allen & Caron Inc TOP Tankers Inc 212 691 8087 011 30 210 812 8199 DATASOURCE: TOP Tankers Inc CONTACT: investors, Michael Mason of Allen & Caron Inc, +1-212-691-8087, ; or Stamatis Tsantanis, CFO of TOP Tankers Inc, +011 30 210 812 8199, Web site: http://www.toptankers.com/

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