Pac Basin Private Placement

Having received a general mandate to issue new shares from the shareholders at the AGM last month, Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (“Pac Basin”) wasted no time and sold the full allotment of 158,598,010 shares to Goldman Sachs Asia L.L.C., as placing agent, on a fully underwritten basis. The offering will raise approximately HK$2.144 million (US$275.132 million based upon US$1=HK$7.7935) in cash before expenses. The directors saw this as an opportunity to raise capital for the company while widening the shareholder base.

Written by: carisk | Categories: Freshly Minted, The Week in Review | May 8th, 2008 | Add a Comment

Tinker to Evers to Chance

Spring is here and with it is the beginning of the baseball season. So please forgive our title which refers to the most famous double play combination in baseball history. The idea of two outs in a single play somehow seems analogous to the latest transaction done by Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (“Pac Basin”).

Written by: carisk | Categories: Freshly Minted, Transaction Report | March 27th, 2008 | Add a Comment

A New Romance or Strategic Diversification

Just in time for St. Valentine’s Day, Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (“Pacific Basin”), one of the world’s leading dry bulk shipping companies operating principally in the Asia Pacific region with a particular focus on handysize bulk carriers, found a new interest. On Wednesday, Pacific Basin announced it had agreed to take over resale contracts for two roll-on roll-off (“Ro-Ro”) vessels to be built at A.P. Moller – Maersk’s Odense shipyard and has contracted for two more similar vessels direct from the yard. According to the announcement, the sellers are substantial owners of similar tonnage and it further indicates that a future cooperation between the two is likely.

Various databases show that Odense shipyard has orders for six Ro-Ro sister vessels all of which were placed by the Epic Shipping UK Limited, which had its roots in the original Pacific Basin. However, according to the company, the orders were placed by Epic Shipping partly for their own account and partly on behalf of another entity, whose main shareholders are shipping investors. The two re-sale contracts were purchased from this entity and there is no connection with Epic whatsoever in this instance. Therein lies the mystery in romance.

Written by: carisk | Categories: Freshly Minted, The Week in Review | February 14th, 2008 | Add a Comment