OMI: Phoenix-Like

By Urs Dür

OMI Corporation (NYSE: OMM) was popularly thought, prior to the Erika, at about this point in 1999, to be a tanker company that might well be “on the ropes” and in danger of going “down for the count”. They were not alone in this situation in the tanker world. With the post-Erika boom market, they were able to re-focus the strategy of the company on their two main markets (Suezmax spot tankers and product tanker term business), revitalize their fleet profile, and engage in a new financing facility to change their balance sheet profile and improve their long-term outlook. The turn-around, even with all the abounding uncertainty, is one of the more interesting on the NY publicly traded tanker scene.

We look at some of the highlights from 2001 and discuss where the company is likely headed in the near term.

New Debt Facility
In our view, OMI’s 6-year revolving/reducing facility, closed July 27th 2001, was a great success. The deal was originally for $280m, but was oversubscribed and increased to $348m.

This is only an excerpt of OMI: Phoenix-Like

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