Teekay Tankers is among the world’s largest operators of midsize tankers. The company owns 22 Suezmax oil tankers, 14 Aframax ships, seven long-range product tankers (LR2) and 12 medium-range product tankers (MR).

In addition, Teekay Tankers owns a 50 percent interest in a VLCC and a 10 percent stake in Tanker Investments (Oslo: TIL), which specializes in lightering tankers used to transport crude oil between ships and from the shore to vessels docked offshore.

Teekay Tankers is a corporation, not a master limited partnership (MLP), and pays quarterly dividends. Late last year, the company adopted a new policy of disbursing 30 percent to 50 percent of its quarterly net income in dividends, subject to a minimum quarterly payout of $0.03 per share.

Besides paying dividends, Teekay Tankers will use its excess cash flow to pay down debt and has targeted a net debt-to-capitalization ratio of 40 percent to 45 percent this year.

The company’s progress in reducing leverage helped the firm to secure a $900 million credit facility in January at an attractive rate of LIBOR plus 200 basis points. This facility replaces two bridge loans that matured in January 2016 and a revolving credit line that comes due in late 2017, effectively pushing back several major debt repayments to 2021.