Pacific Basin, Hong Kong’s most successful minor bulk player is to acquire four dry bulk vessels including two Supramax and two Handymax for a total of US$73.84m.
The company said that the bill for the vessels will be split between cash and shares to the seller. Some US$49.47m will be sourced from the company’s cash. The balance will be paid with 105.912m new Pacific Basin shares, for a total cash amount of US$24.37m.
The new shares are to be issued under the Company’s General Mandate, and will in aggregate represent approximately 2.22%of Pacific Basin’s enlarged issued share capital after the allotment and issue of all these new shares. The issue price of HK$1.80per new share issued to the ships’ sellers represents a premium of 5.94% to the average closing price for the last ten trading days immediately prior to the date of the ship acquisition contracts.
Commenting on the transaction, Mats Berglund, chief executive of Pacific Basin, said: “Consistent with our previously stated goal of looking opportunistically but cautiously at acquiring good quality second hand ships, these ship purchases represent another attractive opportunity to grow and renew our fleet with modern, efficient vessels built by large, reputable shipbuilders Shikoku, Tsuneishi and Imabari.
“The Handysize ships are logs-fitted, and all the ships are of excellent design for our trades and will enhance our fleet for the long term. They will also increase further the proportion of our owned versus chartered-in vessels at what we consider to be an attractive time.
“The three 2015-builtships are currently under our long-term time charter with one expiring in October 2019 and two expiring in 2022, so our purchase of these vessels will replace our charter costs with significantly lower owned vessel cash costs. The share issue enables immediate 33% equity-based funding of the acquisitions of the four ships and will enhance our operating cash flow, EBITDA and competitive strength. The transactions will also lower our P&L breakeven levels and are expected to be accretive to our earnings per share.
“We appreciate our relationships with the sellers and their belief in the longer term prospects for Pacific Basin and its shareholder value. We are delighted to have secured these excellent ships,” he concluded.
Source:
hongkongmaritimehub
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