BLT Subsidiary Launches USD 147 million IPO

Investor sentiments worldwide may be jittery but this has not dampened Berlian Laju Tanker (“BLT”)’s ambition to list its subsidiary Buana Listya Tama on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Right after the completion of a USD 93.5 million sale & leaseback agreement with Standard Chartered in March and a USD 685 million refinancing package with six lenders (DnB NOR, Nordea, Standard Chartered, ING, NIBC and BNP Paribas), the chemical tanker owner and operator is now setting its sights to enhance its liquidity position even further by selling up to 7.26 billion new shares or close to 40% of the enlarged share capital in its wholly owned subsidiary Buana Listya.

The objectives for the spin-off are straight-forward. By itself, BLT is already a listed company on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and Singapore Exchange, and the listing of its subsidiary Buana Listya will give the group financial flexibility and the access to the capital markets for debt and equity funding via two separate listed entities. The spin-off will also allow the group to
streamline its operations and better position itself for the domestic and international markets. BLT will focus its resources on growing its business as a provider of global seaborne transportation of liquid cargoes mainly the chemical sector (other than Indonesia) while Buana Listya will focus primarily on energy related shipping services serving the oil, gas, FPSO and FSO and chemical sectors throughout Indonesia. And this clear mandate to expand business within Indonesia is exactly what makes Buana Listya an attractive investment. Continue Reading

A Noble Breed

Last week, our sister publication Freshly Minted reported on Maersk’s successful EUR 750 million (USD 1.3 billion) five-year bond. This was the shipping conglomerate’s first bond issuance, following a recent equity offering of USD 1.7 billion. In Asia, commodity trading house Noble Group has likewise found tremendous success in raising funds, suggesting that investors and bankers are getting warmed up to investing cash again. Continue Reading