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New Sevan Successfully Places Shares
On Monday, Sevan Marine ASA announced that its offering and listing of up to 21,037,428 shares was fully subscribed. At an offering price of NOK 6.70/share gross proceeds raised were NOK 149,950,768 or approximately $25 million. Proceeds of the offering will be used for near term liquidity and general corporate purposes.
Part of the restructuring of the company, these shares were directed to former shareholders of Sevan and the unsecured bondholders who received unsecured bondholder shares in the unsecured debt conversion. This offering also provides for the listing of the directed placement of 21,047,276 new shares towards an affiliate of Teekay Corporation for NOK 141 million and the 5,261,595 new shares already issued pursuant to a conversion of the 14% Sevan Callable Senior Unsecured Bond Issue 2010/2014.
Cross Border to Oslo – Asia Offshore Drilling Finds Capital
A subsidiary of Thoresen Thai Agencies Public Company Limited, Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited (“Mermaid”) was incorporated in 1983 and operates in two specialized niches within the offshore oil and gas sector. Mermaid Drilling Services provides drilling services while Mermaid Offshore Services Limited provides sub-sea engineering services. The former was the owner and operator of two tender drilling rigs, which business management had targeted for expansion by earmarking over $70 million for future investments.
Pacific Drilling Success
Two weeks ago, Pacific Drilling announced the successful completion of the private placement of its shares. Due to demand, the offering was upsized by 10 million shares and priced at $10/share slightly above the midpoint of the indicated range. Gross proceeds were $600 million based upon the 60 million new shares. Procceds were used to partially finance the construction of the two drillships from Samsung which are expected to be delivered in Q2 and Q3 2013. Following the offering the company has 210 million shares outstanding, which trade over-the-counter in Oslo. The details of the final offering are shown below.
Like the Energizer Bunny, Sevan Drilling’s IPO Keeps Going and Eventually Succeeds
In early April, Sevan Drilling ASA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sevan Marine ASA (“Selling Shareholder”), announced a global offering of its shares of up to NOK 3,270 million (~$595) by way of a combined secondary offering of existing shares by the Selling Shareholder and a primary issuance of new shares. The offering would consist of an institutional offering, a retail offering to Norwegian investors and an employee offering. The share price is to be established through a book building process for the institutional offering. Based upon an expected price range of NOK 16-21 per share, the company expected a primary issue of up to 120 million new shares (~$350) and 64 million secondary shares (up to ~$245 million).
Pacific Drilling’s $500 Million Private Placement
Pacific Drilling S.A. announced last week its intention to offer 50,000,000 common shares in a private placement to qualified investors. The share price is expected to range between $9.20 and $10.50, raising proceeds of approximately $500 million. The proceeds of the offering will be used to finance the Pacific Khamsin and Pacific Sharav, two new advanced capability, ultra-deepwater drillships which were contracted this month at Samsung Heavy Industries (“SHI”) for delivery in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2013 respectively. Similar to the four drillships previously ordered at the yard, the latest new orders are capable of drilling in water depths of 12,000 feet to a depth of 40,000 feet. The aggregate contract price for the two rigs is $1 billion, with the total cost of each vessel, including commissioning and testing and other costs, to be approximately $600 million, excluding capitalized interest.
Skunked in New York, Success Outside
Having been unsuccessful in New York in its efforts to sell up to $400 million of ten-year senior unsecured notes in December, Ship Finance International Limited played it safe and stayed closer to home in its latest capital raising effort. The earlier effort, which was tied to a tender offer for its 8.5% Senior Notes due 2013, was stymied by weakening market conditions in the debt capital markets due to the sovereign debt issues in Ireland. Although investors pulled back from the new issue market, the Ship Finance story, we understand, was well received. In concluding our story, we wrote: “Now more than ever, in a world where information flows at the speed of light, it is not merely fundamentals that determine your future, but macro events as well. A quiet news week may be just what the doctor ordered.”
Serial Convertible Issuer – Seadrill Again
When it comes to financing his offshore drilling company, Mr. Fredriksen likes convertible bonds. With two issues already in place, $1 billion due in 2012 and $500 million in 2014, Seadrill Limited last week sold $650 million of senior unsecured convertible bonds. The original offering size was $550 million with an increase option of $100 million, which was exercised. As a large and regular seller of this financial instrument, which is particularly attractive to hedge funds, the company’s offer attracted strong demand and was oversubscribed within hours. Market talk indicates that there was sufficient interest at the $950 million level. Buyers included the usual investors interested in the offshore industry as well as a number of large buyers not typically found in the sector.
Game Changers?
In their 4th quarter earnings release, Golden Ocean Group Limited announced that its application for a secondary listing in Singapore had been approved by the Singapore Exchange (“SGX”). The company already has an operational presence in Asia and saw the opportunity offered by the July 2009 Memorandum of Understanding between SGX and the Oslo Bors (“OSE”), which facilitated a simplified and accelerated dual listing process between the exchanges. This will be the first secondary listing by a Norwegian firm under the new accords.
From our perspective, this is an interesting transaction. Not only is this an example of a western company seeking equity capital in the East, it also raises the question of whether the market would follow the trendsetter, John Fredriksen, who was the first to bring his company to the U.S markets. The successful listing of Golden Ocean will blaze the trail for more to follow and strengthen Singapore’s position as a maritime and financial hub. Continue Reading
What One Hand Taketh, the Other Giveth
Last week, Songa Offshore formally confirmed that it has delayed it offering of 7-year notes that it had launched on January 27th. The decision to delay the offering was the result of volatile market conditions, as well as the upcoming deadline of February 12th, after which 3rd quarter results would no longer be sufficiently current to access the capital markets. The company is in the process of preparing its year-end results and upon completion of the audit will determine whether to proceed with the offering after taking into account market conditions and investor feedback.
In its 4th quarter earnings report, Songa highlighted the goal of deleveraging as part of 2010 business plan. Currently, the company has $890 million of debt, consisting of a secured credit facility of $1,050 million of which $802.1 million is outstanding, and two Norwegian bonds totaling $87.9 million.
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A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S and Brostrom AB Announce Engagement
Yesterday, Brostrom AB, one of the leading logistics companies serving the petroleum and chemical industry, announced that A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S (“APM”), through its wholly owned subsidiary, Maersk Product Tankers AB (MPT”), had made a public offer to the shareholders of Brostrom to sell their shares for cash consideration of SEK 57 per share, a premium of 23.6% relative to the volume weighted average closing price of the B-share for the three month period prior to today’s date and a premium of 10.1% relative to Tuesday’s closing price. The offer values the share capital of the company at approximately SEK 3.62 billion. The offering price will be increased by 6% per annum from the date occurring two months after the announcement until the offer is declared unconditional.
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