Freshly Minted – September 23, 1999

WE’LL SEE YOU IN GREECE

We have received very strong response to the Ship Finance Forum Greece! Should you like to see the agenda, please send us an email or give us a ring at the contact numbers at the bottom of Freshly Minted.

OCEAN RIG

Crunch time for Ocean Rig, whose private placement clock began ticking Thursday. The company has until Tuesday to sell its “Oil Well in New England”-style stock. Ocean Rig said Thursday that it was too early to say whether existing shareholders would like to maintain their respective proportions. Alfred Berg, Pareto Fonds and Sundal Collier have the task of convincing the likes of Pro Safe and Noble Drilling that Ocean Rig is still an attractive buy (problem is, buyers might take this too literally). Meanwhile, the MeesPierson-Christiania team forced Ocean Rig to up its placement from $75mill. to $90mill., because the banks reduced the first eligible loan installment from $50mill. to $40mill. Overall, Ocean Rig cannot withdraw more than $75mill. of the $100mill. the banks had originally committed. Even that is contingent on proper delivery of the delayed Bingo rigs. Back at the ranch, Ocean Rig is fending off two arbitration suits. Maritima of Brazil has claimed $16mill., in effect for damages! suffered on account of invisible orders (not) secured by an invisible rig. Friede Goldman has slammed a $75mill. suit on the delayed rigs. It is hard to refute Ocean Rig’s claim that the rigs still have

good potential. The question is, is Ocean Rig itself the right company to run/sell them, especially when its entire future seems to depend on its ability to draw first (the money, we mean)? Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – September 16, 1999

Hurricanes Don’t Phase Us

PRETTY BOY FLOYD

Despite battering winds and rain that seems to be falling sideways, the Marine Money editorial staff spent the day in the bunker, preparing another warm and soothing issue of Freshly Minted for your end of the week enjoyment.

THE DOT.COM OF GREECE

We think that the potential listing of bulk shipping companies on the Athens Stock Exchange could be the “dot.com” of Greece and is certainly the most exciting development in capital markets finance for shipping, perhaps of all time.

To help owners and their advisors better understand how to capitalize on this potential phenomenon, Marine Money and MeesPierson are hosting a conference on the subject. The event will be held at the Hotel

Intercontinental in Athens on October 21^st . We hope that you won’t miss this exciting opportunity. Send us an email if you would like to see the program.

NICOLINI GOES TO ITALY Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – September 9, 1999

Despite fears that computers would crash today, 9-9-99, you will all be pleased to know that all systems are GO! here at Marine Money and we are pleased to present another issue of Freshly Minted.

GREECE

An earthquake, which registered 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked Athens on Tuesday at 1500 Greek time, and most Greek banks and shipping offices packed up and went home. On Wednesday morning rumors of another quake sent people scuttling again and many offices remained closed. Lunchtime Wednesday saw Zyphyros restaurant at Tourkolimno full. The restaurant is outside with no high buildings around. Spotted at various tables were representatives of Scotiabank, Coutts & Co, Viking Finance, Nedship, EFG Eurobank, National Bank of Greece, Den norske Bank, Piraeus Prime Bank and Eurofinance. Amongst owners spotted were Alafouzos and Coustas interests. Were they concluding the next round of big deals or simply enjoying the fish!!!

MARKETS

Markets have been slowly moving lower this week as many investors have been taking profits from the rally last Friday while others continue to worry about inflation and the Fed. August PPI numbers tomorrow. High yield has traded lower this week with market off 1/4 pt yesterday.

On the shipping front there is quite a bit going on with issuers. Sellers have emerged for slightly stronger names like Enterprises and Millenium. Specific details below. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – September 2, 1999

LION AWAKES

We are pleased to report that the long slumbering ship finance community is beginning to stir. With good tans and depleted bank accounts, shipowners and bankers are wandering back into the offices to try to make something happen sooner rather than later. Based on what we’ve been seeing and hearing, we think we will see

a very active 4^th quarter in terms of loan volume and deal flow. On the high yield shipping front, September will be a decidedly active month for TBS and Global and its bondholders. As restructuring proposals are being passed around, investors must now decide whether or not to become restricted. There has also been a bit of job hopping. As reported last week Chris Thomas has left Economou interests (Alpha and Drytank). From 1st September he has joined Panayotides interests to become CFO of Excel Maritime, which is listed in New York on Equimar’s former Amex listing. According to recently released figures Excel had profits of $634,000 for the first half of 1999 after acquiring two tankers in March and two bulkers in May. With a newly appointed CFO it appears that the company has plans to expand and develop. Next stop, Athens Stock Exchange!!!

SHIP FINANCE GREECE Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – JULY 29th, 1999

SUMMER RAFFLE!

At which shipowner’s summer house was a party hosted in June at which guests were required to wear a shagadelic outfit a la Austin Powers:

1. Fred Cheng
2. Richard du Moulin
3. Kalid Hashim
4. Paul Slater
5. C.H. Tung
6. John Fredrikson
7. Sammy Ofer
8. Capt. Tsakos
9. Bjorn Aaserod
10. Guy Morel

Please e-mail us back with your choice. Winners will be placed into a pool and 2 names will be drawn. The prize will be your choice of a free delegate pass to either;

1. the Ship Finance Forum Greece, which will be held at the Intercon. Hotel in Athens on October 21^st or

(2) the Ferry Financing Forum, which will be held at the New York Yacht Club on October 20^th.

HIGH YIELD

• Pretty busy considering it’s the end of July.
• Heavy week of pricing, $3.5 billion got done, $2.5 billion to go
• Total of 15 deals expected to price this week
• Most deals pricing 50 bps wide of talk
• Inflows of $204 million into high yield funds
• Nine new deals priced last week
• 2 deals were withdrawn or postponed
• Greenspan’ s continued testimony continued today
  • Lazards reports secondary market is “sloppy and illiquid because of weakness in the broader equity and treasury markets. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – July 22, 1999

DÉJÀ VU?

“It may shock some of you to learn that if freight rates were to continue indefinitely at this low level, it would seem more remunerative to sell our ships and invest the proceeds in the oil companies”

–Basil M. Mavroleon, Chairman, London & Overseas Freighters, Address to Shareholders, June 1956 HIGH YIELD

GLOBAL ROADTRIP

A busy week in Greece for Global Ocean, its financial advisor Chase Securities and the due diligence team of AMA/Chanin for the bondholders. Both sides report development of an open and professional dialogue. Global has been through the due diligence process several times during its run with the public markets, but always in the process of new business. As a public company therefore it was well capable of responding effectively to the sharper investigations and questions associated with a reorganization. Global Ocean bondholders might be encouraged to see that the market for containerships is picking up according to Commonwealth, Clarksons and Howe Robinson.

ALPHA SHIPPING

It appears as though Alpha Shipping has successfully concluded its restructuring and that George has returned $67.75 million (37 cents) to CSFB and other bondholders. With a cost basis of around 25, it looks as though CSFB cleared about $18 million in 6 months. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – July 15, 1999

HIGH YIELD SNAPSHOT

• High yield remains quiet.
• Better quality names attracting the most attention, junk struggling
• Last week saw positive inflows of $618 million
• Forward calendar is building
• $2 billion expected to price this week
• Hvide Marine was supposed to price today, but sounds like next week. See below for details.

MILLENIUM SEACARRIERS

Handysize bulk carrier high yield issuer issued a press release which stated the company paid its coupon earlier this week.

TBS

TBS and DLJ had a meeting today with bondholders willing to get restricted and bondholder advisors AMA/ Chanin. Sources indicate that a proposal hit the table but details were not available. Stay tuned.

HVIDE MARINE

Hvide’s high yield rescue package was supposed to price this week, but indications are it looks more like early next week. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – July 8, 1999

Results of Fed Tightening

• Dow registered its largest weekly gain ever, climbing 589 points
• The partying on Wall Street started early last week
• S&P was up 5.8%
• Nasdaq jumped up 7%
• Fixed income investors continue to have interest rate concerns
• High yield was particularly slow last week

HIGH YIELD

• $500 million in high yield expected to price Year to Date
  
• High yield had another quarter of increased new issuance volume
• Year to date offerings of $65.7 billion
• 2Q 1999, $34 billion of funds were raised, up from $31 billion in the first quarter.
• Compared to last year, new issuance volume is down 38%.
• June has been the slowest month of the year with only $7.7 billion raised

  STENA AB
  

  Affirming Chase’s marketing mantra that “the right relationship is everything”, Chase has completed a $225 million five year private placement at 6.75% for Stena AB. The interest rate appears low because notes are secured by the company’s new drilling rig Stena Tay and the unit’s five year contract with a subsidiary of Shell. Proceeds will be used to pay down the company’s revolving credit facility. Chase recently closed a $150 million facility for Stena Sphere tanker owner Concordia Maritime. The facility was priced at 139 basis points over Libor and proceeds were used for the newbuilding V-Maxs as well as to refinance Concordia’s HBL ships formally owned by DK Lugwig. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – July 1, 1999

HIGH YIELD

It has been a relatively slow week in the high yield market with the Fed announcement of a 25bp tightening and a holiday weekend. Lazard reported that the past week saw $238 million of inflows into high yield funds after six weeks of outflows. 10 new deals priced.

Shipping activity has been limited. Hvide bonds traded up toward the end of the week (from as low as 41 to as high as 53 with trades done at 46) though there was no “real” news on the company. Elsewhere, rig and supply boat bonds popped up a bit as crude broke $19 and optimism that drillers will get busier and day rates and utilization will pick in kind.

HVIDE

We understand that DLJ’s attempt to underwrite a $300 million PIK high yield bond to take out Hvide’s bank debt has been modified. Under the modification, the deal will be offered in two $150 million tranches. One of the tranches will be a cash pay with a coupon of 13%, while the second will be a PIK structure with a coupon of 16%. Hvide’s bonds traded up sharply this week. The modification of the deal may improve the chances of getting it done as it will provide a higher IRR for the buyers of the PIK.

Hvide executives are presently on the roadshow and we expect a final result will be clearer by mid July. Continue Reading

Freshly Minted – June 17, 1999

HIGH YIELD

Notes from the Navigator Bondholder meeting June 15, 1999

The gas market is low and Navigator Gas has no T/C on their vessel up for delivery in August. We will either see the vessels operating in the spot market, in a pool(maybe Bergesen), or on 1-year T/C due to the uncertain market conditions. Marlink is marketing the vessels and there is interest due to the flexibility of the vessels. The vessels have a very efficient cost base compared to other Bergesen vessels (12,000cbm) but the company needs T/C rates above $517′ to not draw the letter of credit and default on the notes before 2005. Navigator Gas has not made any pool agreements with Bergesen.

This weeks spot-market report(June 16,1999) from Fearnleys:

Bjørn Q. has been in discussions with Bergesen(B) in April concerning the possibility for a pool cooperation, however the pool-key offered by B was not acceptable and there has not been any major activity in further negotiations. The recent accusations in the press are false! However, we are confident Marlink will continue the dialogue with B as delivery gets closer, which was also confirmed by Bjørn during the Q&A session. Continue Reading