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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D/S Norden

Last week SEB Enskilda and NASDAQ OMX brought the 2008 Nordic Stock Seminar to New York’s Waldorf=Astoria Hotel for a two day event designed to increase investors’ awareness of Nordic shares. We took the opportunity to sneak in and listen to the pre­sentations given by D/S Norden and D/S Torm. Both were insight­ful and more importantly clearly piqued investor interest as meas­ured by the numbers of questions asked. The following are excerpts from both presentations seen through our peculiar lenses.

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