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A True Believer Consolidates and Does Right by His Shareholders
On Monday, George Economou announced a major strategic expansion by DryShips Inc. (“DryShips”) in both its bulk and offshore businesses. First, the company acquired the equity interests, from entities controlled by Cardiff Marine Inc., in nine Capesize bulkcarriers, including five newbuildings for $690 million payable in the form of 19.4 million newly issued shares ($35.50 per share) of Dryships common stock increasing the number of shares to 63 million. In addition, the company will assume $216.3 million of existing debt and $262 in remaining shipyard installments. The latter will be funded by debt facilities in place except for $16 million that will be funded by cash flow. The implied aggregate value of the purchase is estimated at approximately $1.2 billion or approximately $130 million per vessel.
Chris Weyers & Scott Burk – Bankers Move On
We also note the following friends who have found new positions:
Chris Weyers has left Fortis to join FBR Capital Markets as a Managing Director. He can be reached at (212) 457-3314 or cweyers@fbr.com.
Finding life after Bear Stearns, Scott Burk has accepted a position as Lead Ocean Shipping Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Scott can be reached at (212) 667-7402 or scott.burk@opco.com.
We wish them all good luck in their new positions.
The Wall Street Journal’s Shipping Analysts Of the Year
For a Wall Street analyst the annual Wall Street Journal Best on the Street rankings is like an AcademyAward, only worth more, certainlyto those investors who bought basis the winning analysts picks.
This year Scott Burk at JPMorgan, but Bear Stearns when his picks were made (JPM acquired Bear Stearns in a sub-prime fire sale last March) came out number one in the Industrial Transportation classification. Doug Mavrinac of Jefferies & Co came in second and Omar Nokta with Dahlman Rose grabbed the third spot.
Banking on the Future
It’s starting as a trickle, but banks are again developing the comfort level to close new deals and owners are becoming accustomed to the necessary changes in pricing, terms and covenants. HSH Nordbank, our 2007 winner for Greatest Contribution to Ship Finance, has since the fall been fielding accusations that it had stopped its ship lending. Countering such concerns, HSH announced this week two loans it has closed for Greek shipping companies, both of which were arranged in 2008 – and so are not unfinished business from before the credit crunch.
The Official Guide To Marine Finance Providers
Shipping Index
