Ship Finance International Ltd has entered into an agreement to acquire two new building ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs from subsidiaries of Bermuda-based Seadrill Ltd. in combination with 15-year bareboat charters.

With a total acquisition cost of approximately $1.7 billion, Ship Finance is again breaking records for sale/leaseback transactions in the maritime industry. The company has received commitments for a $1.4 billion loan facility from a syndicate of leading international banks.

The approximately $300 million net investment by Ship Finance is planned sourced from a combination of the company's available liquidity and new financing arrangements related to existing assets. These assets include vessels with no or very low leverage and a substantial profit share payment due from Frontline in early 2009.

Based on this highly accretive transaction, the company intends to increase the quarterly dividend from 58 cents to 60 cents per share in respect to the third quarter.