Freshly Minted – April 15, 1999

HIGH YIELD

Seems to be a lot more action in the wild world of shipping high yield. More buyers and bids are coming out of the woodwork. Action is result of optimism about Asia and appetite in high yield. Wall Street Journal Article “Apocalypse No!” (April 14th) is pretty encouraging for shipping prospects.

MC SHIPPING

Citicorp has a buy on MC Shipping and they have issued research. If you’d like to get a copy, give us a call. Not much coupon risk but 13 of MC’s 23 ships are coming open between now and 3rd quarter 1999.

GOLDEN OCEAN

We understand that a block of Golden Ocean traded around 22. Elsewhere on the VLCC front, Papacristides and Lowes have ordered up to a total of 18 VLCCs at $66.25 million each with conventional payment terms. The order is for 2 with a 2+2 at Daewoo, Hyundai and Samsung. (i.e. 2 option 2 option 2 at 3 yards) The first ship is scheduled for delivery in 4th quarter 2000.

ERMIS

Ermis restructuring continues though we understand it is by no means a done deal. Jefferies and Burbank (shipbrokers) are representing bondholders, Blackstone is representing the company. In a nutshell: plan keeps Ermis out of bankruptcy and bondholders get note with 90% face of original value with 25% of equity. Company didn’t put in any fresh cash. Deal gives them common stock and management fees that have been slashed back to pre-offering levels.

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