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DnB NOR Chief Bullish Expansion Set – Lending Grows
It is always a pleasure to hear from someone with a fresh and confident outlook, and such was the happy occasion when the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce presented Rune Bjerke the Group Chief Executive of DnB NOR at an early evening, late summer event in New York. Mr. Bjerke joined the Bank leaving the successful Hafslund ASA where he was CEO. And as he noted the switch to banking left some of his friends perplexed it was the sort of challenge that appealed even though his start date approximately coincided with the start of the Sub Prime crisis.
Back to the Future – Genco’s New Credit Facility
On Monday, Genco Shipping & Trading announced it had received a bank commitment for a new $320 million senior secured amortizing term loan facility. Underwritten by Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and DnB NOR Bank ASA, the five year facility is subject to definitive documentation.
Paragon Shelf Offering
Last week, Paragon Shipping Inc. filed a shelf offering to issue various securities of up to $250 million to position themselves with the proverbial “dry powder.” In addition, the company, through this registration statement, provided for a secondary offering of up to 5,283,288 shares, acquired in a private placement prior to the initial public offering, by a company beneficially owned by its Chairman and CEO, Mr. Michael Bodouroglou, and Loeb Partners. Details of the offering are shown in the Guts of the Deal below.
K-Sea Follows-On
K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P. (“K-Sea”) announced last week the pricing of its public offering of 2 million units representing limited partner interests. With Lehman Brothers acting as the sole book-running manager, and RBC Capital Markets, as co-lead manager, the units were priced at $25.80 with expected net proceeds after expenses of $49.8 million. Proceeds will be used to re-pay existing indebtedness and make construction progress payments on newbuildings. Details of the transaction are shown in the Guts of the Deal below.
The Week in Review
Summer is winding to an end, which on one hand is sad, but on another at least judged by slowly growing business activity shows promise for a dynamic fall. This week concludes 2Q earnings reports, which were almost universally strong, provides several new corporate filings and saw the DnBNOR’s Group Chief Executive Rune Bjerke in New York speaking confidently about the bank’s position.
Teekay – Mad Momentum
As Thursday August 7 played out Teekay announced they would restate earnings for the years 2003 to 2Q08. The company plans to restate “Financial Statements for Accounting Under SFAS 133″. Just their luck they also missed First Call consensus earnings estimates for the second quarter by $0.15 and saw their stock whacked, down almost 14% at the time of writing.
Capital Market Strength Makes Winners all around in ATB GMR Transaction
In a market in which issuing new equity at or above net asset value is nearly impossible, and at a time when high payout shipping companies are struggling to grow, General Maritime’s all stock acquistion of Arlington Tankers not only makes perfect economic sense – the cashless and symbiotic nature of the deal is probably a blueprint for a few more transactions to come.
Paying Their Due
Second only to the eternal question of where the freight markets will head these days is the question of whether the existing orderbook will be built and financed. Therefore we thought it worth a look at some recent newbuilding finance deals and some recent order cancellations to allow readers a chance to observe emerging trends firsthand – we welcome your feedback and input as well, so please feel free to drop us an email or give us a call if you have other views or deals you would like to discuss.
Marine Money Asia Enters a New Chapter
In line with the robust Asian ship finance market, Marine Money Asia has expanded its team and moved into new offices at the Winsland House located at 3 Killiney Road in Singapore. Stepping in as Director will be Marine Money International’s Managing Editor Nora Huvane. Nora will be working with Financial Analyst Rodricks Wong and Sales Manager Teck Wee to coordinate Marine Money Asia’s global activities. Nora brings years of editorial and financial analysis experience with Marine Money to ensure that the Marine Money Asia publication continues to grow and evolve and that Asian ship finance is well-represented in Marine Money’s global publications.
Bank of America Has High Hopes for DWT
Bank of America’s new analytical team, Michael Pak and James Lee, published this week an initiation report on Britannia Bulk that sheds some light on the company’s business model and market exposure. The company, which went public on the NYSE with an IPO this past May, is a global dry bulk-shipping provider with a leading position in ice-class trade, particularly in the Baltic region. They currently own 28 vessels (22 of which are in the water) and charter in 35-70 vessels in order to capture profitable business that cannot be serviced by its existing fleet. The company began in 2004 and forecasts 42% EBITDA growth over the next two years.
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