Links
High Yield Report Card
We love to borrow the work of others particularly when they have insights we lack. This week “Professor” Ethan Ram of DVB Bank shared with us the presentation he made at the University of Piraeus last month on the high yield bond market. While it is in fact a primer on the market, what piqued our interest were his slides on how that market had performed.
Beginning in the 2Q 2009, high yield issuance grew significantly, as investor risk appetite returned and corporations required funding in the absence of bank debt or were in fact coerced by their lenders to issue bonds to pay down existing bank debt in order to reduce the bank’s exposure.
Continue Reading
London calling. London calling.
…. more education about shipping is key to attract investor appetite in London.
Marine Money returned to London after a long absence to host a wonderful 1st annual conference on 21st January 2010. This was the first of 14 Marine Money conferences for 2010 and we got off to a cracking start. Over 180 delegates and speakers attended with about one third coming from overseas.
Continue Reading
Dynamic Busan: City Of Tomorrow
For the very first time in Marine Money’s history, the 3rd Annual Korea Ship Finance Forum was held at the city of Busan, the heart of the world’s shipbuilding industry and the region home to seven of the world’s top ten shipbuilders. Prior to the event, delegates had an exclusive opportunity to visit the impressive Hyundai Heavy Industries (“HHI”) – the world’s largest shipbuilder. 240 delegates active in the Korean market gathered together and discussed on the today’s challenges and future opportunities.
The keynote presenter Dr. Keo Don Oh, President from the Korea Maritime University started the day by stressing the importance for China, Japan and Korea to work closely together. Dr. Oh noted that there have been discussions on the possibility of setting up a North East Asia Development Bank recently and he believes this could likewise be extended to the creation of a ship finance body to foster closer ties between shipping and shipbuilding industries in Northeast Asia. Continue Reading
Full House in Athens – Part 2
By Kevin Oates
…in the longer term shipping should correct but quality, transparency and financial strength are key to survival.
Despite the tough market and the general lack of ship finance, Marine Money’s Greek Ship Finance Forum again filled the seats in Athens. With 310 delegates and speakers and some 40 more for the TEN Ltd lunch, there was plenty gossip and exchange of views at the 11th Annual conference held on the 8th of October 2009.
The event had started with a speaker’s dinner the previous night co-hosted by Navios Maritime Holdings and was to end in the early hours of the following morning at the Capital Party co-hosted by Capital Product Partners LP at a well-known Athens nightclub. Even if the market is tough, we still know how to enjoy ourselves.
Back at the conference, our day began with Guy Verberne, a leading economist at Fortis Bank (Nederland) telling us that the economic recovery has come and it may well be sustainable. China, he says, has plenty foreign reserves to prolong it’s stimulus package for as long as it needs and he sees no meaningful cutbacks from the stimulus packages of western governments, at least through 2010. A risk is a double dip in 2011 if we get too bogged down in debt.
Continue Reading
Simply Blown Away
On Tuesday, DVB Bank confirmed that it is not only well positioned to survive in this downturn but also to thrive.
The remarkable news was that the bank entered into 39 new transactions in the 1st quarter generating new business volume of EUR 1.12 billion down only slightly from the comparable period last year. The average interest margin on new business reached an all-time high of 344 bps, more than double the 161 bps it earned in the 1st quarter last year. Unfortunately, it still was not sufficient to compensate for higher funding costs and the impact of distortions in the money market. These costs contributed to a 28.7% decline in net interest income to EUR 30.1 million for the period. The decline in interest income was somewhat offset by fee and commission income and advisory fees which increased from EUR 13.5 million in the 1st quarter of last year to EUR 32.9 million for the comparable period in 2009.
Old Faces, New Places
Nick Davies, formerly of Jefferies, has accepted a position working for Michel Bourgery at DVB Bank in its capital markets business.
Dahlman Rose announced the appointment of Elliot Etheredge as Managing Director and head of the firm’s Marine Transportation Investment Banking group. Previously, Mr. Etheredge was at JPMorgan.
Finance for Asian Shipping
The availability of ship financing and alternative sources of capital was the central theme revolving Sea-Asia’s conference yesterday. Referring to a slide that illustrates the impact of banks writedowns on their market capitalisations (see below), Dagfinn Lunde, Member of the Board of Managing Directors of DVB Bank SE, pointed out that even though the traditional ship financing landscape has changed dramatically, there is still money available from banks. He told the crowd that DVB, DnB NOR, Nordea, Nord LB, Fortis and some Greek banks are open to different extents and it is possible to put together club deals between USD 100 million to 120 million today. “If you have the words ‘energy’ or ‘offshore’ in your project, even some US banks are still willing to lend,” he added. Continue Reading
Bigger, Better… Forever
We don’t know how they do it, but this year’s CMA’s shipping and trade conference and exposition, “Shipping 2009”, was not only the biggest ever but showed the resilience of the industry. The ladies of CMA, who run the conference like a well-oiled machine, tell us attendance exceeded 2,200. If sports arenas are named after corporations, it seems only fair that the Hilton be renamed the CMA during this annual event.
The success of this event is attributable to the fact that it reaches out to the whole industry and covers all of the issues it faces. This year the shipping markets and piracy got equal billing. While, naturally, our main focus is on the shipping markets, Professor Christopher Coker’s presentation on piracy highlighted its significance, permanence and far-reaching risks, if it becomes linked with terrorism. For us, the rude awakening was his statement that unlike the 19th century when piracy was eradicated, today the best we can hope for is to “manage risks.” And, if we are unsuccessful even in that, we will have far more serious issues. The speech is a must read for its realistic but unfortunately bleak perspective of our future.
From the extensive three day program our chairman puts together with the assistance of the CMA, we have selected the following as perhaps being of the greatest interest to our readers.
5th Annual Marine Money Gulf Ship Finance Conference, Dubai, 4th March 2009
In a week when stock markets steeply declined and then recovered, when Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked in Pakistan and the world continued it’s crazy momentum, Marine Money with Anchor Sponsor Tufton Oceanic (Middle East) Limited hosted its 5th Annual Marine Money Gulf Ship Finance Conference in the luxury of the Grand Hyatt, Dubai.
Forewarned that things were pretty bad in Dubai and that it would be a struggle to get people to attend, we proudly welcomed 152 speakers and delegates. And it is also significant that half of today’s participants attended our conference in Dubai for the first time. That is a lot of new networking opportunities and it demonstrates that shipping continue to develop in Dubai and the Gulf region.
Marine Money in Seoul, with KDB and Miami with DVB
Marine Money is deeply grateful to our partners, all our vital sponsors, speakers and attendees. We have seen the beneficial impact of our Marine Money gatherings around the globe this fall as the economic challenges besetting nations are tackled on a micro level by the world’s most experienced international traders – the shipping industry and its capital sources. Watching the machinations of a single industry find its way forward as we have in Ireland, Greece, New York and Singapore, fills us with confidence that our corner of the global financial malaise will be well dealt with. We salute all our readers, delegates, sponsors and valued partners for standing up to challenges which daily seem to bring other industry’s to the government trough.
The week of November 17 sees Marine Money and a community of owners, financiers and industry professionals gathering in both Seoul, Korea and Miami, Florida, USA. In keeping with the recent global events large turnouts are set for both locations. Korea, in partnership with KDB, Korea Development Bank, will see more than 200 owners, shipyards and international financial professionals congregate to examine the best ways forward in a difficult market. While in Miami, with partner DVB Bank, a cross section of the Americas will gather to explore ways ahead.
The Official Guide To Marine Finance Providers
Shipping Index
