A Frank Assessment

With the exception of the syndicated loan market, it is difficult to get a feel for the level of ship lending activity at any point in time no less any sense of trends. To the extent lending exists today, much of it has gone underground in the form of bilateral loans. So any intelligence we find on the subject is of great interest.

This week we received Deutsche Schiffsbank’s annual report for the past year and as the title of this article suggests the bank was extremely transparent in its disclosures. And, as one might expect, given their location in one of the hardest hit regions, it is going to be a tough year. Moreover, the bank itself is going through immense change as the merger with Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank continues.
Continue Reading

Hard Work, Rewarded

Danaos Corporation announced last week that it has reached agreement with Aegean Baltic Bank acting as agent to its $700 million revolving credit facility with HSH Nordbank, Piraeus Bank and Aegean Baltic, its $60 million credit facility with HSH Nordbank and Dresdner Bank and its $148 million performance guarantee with HSH Nordbank on waiver terms with respect to these facilities.

With this agreement, together with agreements reached earlier this year relating to certain of its other credit facilities, the Company has now obtained waivers through January 31, 2010 covering all prior breaches of financial covenants in its credit facilities as well as any subsequent breaches of these covenants.

The company is now in a position to complete its annual 20-F filing, which will provide greater details on the waivers.

Surveying the Credit Markets

Marine Money has concluded the collection of data for its 2008 shipping banker survey and would like to sincerely thank all who have participated. We are currently concluding work on our annual shipping portfolio league table and would like to thank the following banks for their cooperation and contribution to the development of a transparent and well-informed ship finance industry: Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, Bremer Landesbank, Calyon, Commerzbank, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Schiffsbank, DnB NOR, Dresdner Bank, DVB, Helaba, HSH Nordbank, HVB, JP Morgan, KfW, Lloyds TSB, Natixis, Nordea and RBS. If you don’t see your bank’s name on the list, think it belongs there, and haven’t been in touch with us this weekend, please send an email to nhuvane@marinemoney.com ASAP to ensure you are included. Both survey and portfolio data will be released in the upcoming May issue of Marine Money.

Continue Reading