Freshly Minted – March 9, 2000

Correction:

Danaos Holdings Ltd

In the article published in the February edition of Marine Money it was stated that Danaos Holdings Ltd want to see strict but fair terms for the entry of ocean going shipping companies on the Athens Stock Exchange. It was misleadingly stated however that the company wanted these terms to be strict enough only “to permit the top 10 – 15 companies access to the ASE”. Danaos Holdings Ltd state that the terms should be strict enough to permit only the financially strong companies access to the exchange, of which there may be, in the opinion of Danaos, between 10 and 15 such companies. We should have been more clear and appologize for any misunderstanding.

HIGH YIELD

GOLDEN OCEAN

In our view, one of the most interesting things to happen in ship finance this week involves a surprisingly small sum of money. But if our hunch is correct, the $5 million that Frontline paid for $50 million face value of Golden Ocean notes represents the “ante” in a much larger wager and one that could have a substantial impact on the landscape of the VLCC market. In our view, while Stena and Bergesen have pulled a few tasty meaty morsals from Golden Ocean, Frontline’s decision to voluntarily buy bonds, roll-up its sleeves and get involved in the Golden’s hard fought restructuring gives us the impression that they are interested in taking the whole carcass, flies and all.

FRONTLINE

If there was ever a company that could reap the intangible benefits of Golden Ocean’s size, delivery schedule, fleet and chartering relationships, it is Frontline. While the company has been a relatively late-comer to the Golden Ocean party, in our view that has less to do with a lack of interest and more to do with the fact that Frontline’s Tanker International VLCC pool was still in formation during the early stages of Golden’s on-going restructuring and the company was occupied acquiring ICB. We devote an uncharacteristically large space to this situation below. We hope you find it useful.

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