Wallenius Wilhelmsen JV Builds and Finances in Japan

Norwegian operator Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA has recently signed a new USD 55 million buyer’s credit agreement with Japan Bank of International Cooperation (“JBIC”). The Norwegian operator will use the proceeds to finance the construction of a pure car/truck carrier (“PCTC”) ordered at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (“MHI”) in 2010. JBIC will commit USD 27 million to the facility, with the remaining amount to be co-financed by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (“NEXI”) will provide the commercial lenders buyer’s credit insurance of USD 27.4 million that covers 97.5% political risks and 95% commercial risks.

The vessel is one of the two PCTCs that Wilh. Wilhelmsen and partner Wallenius Lines ordered in 2010. Wallenius Lines’ Singapore subsidiary secured similar funding agreement with JBIC and NEXI for its PCTC back in September 2011. BTMU was the sole arranger in that particular transaction. Each vessel has a capacity to transport 6500 car equivalent units and will be sister vessels of ten PCTCs delivered from MHI in the period 2004-2009. Continue Reading

Maximizing Value

Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA (“WW”) is in the process of restructuring the company into 3 business units, shipping, logistics and maritime services, with the intention that shipping and logistics will be carved out and listed as a separate distinct entity on the Oslo Borse. New investors will be given the opportunity to invest alongside Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holdings, in the new WW, which will own 100% of Wilhelmsen Lines and its many interests in shipping and logistics companies as shown herein.

The company provides shipping and logistics (“factory to dealer”) services within the automotive, construction and agricultural industries using an owned/operated fleet of 136 car carriers and RoRo vessels. The exercise is designed to create a pure play shipping and logistics business, which will be able to take advantage of the following market opportunities:
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The oslo 8: OSE Shipping Equity Values

Since Stelmar successfully completed its IPO in New York last spring a lot of the focus on the public shipping sector has moved in the same direction. Since then even more companies have raised capital in New York either through IPOs or a secondary/ADR listing. The Athens Stock Exchange is still not open to shipping companies under a set of rules shipowners are happy with, Copenhagen is as silent as ever, and the same can be said for Stockholm, London, Amsterdam, and Milan. In Asia there is only small interest with sporadic activity.

So what about Oslo? Has the “World’s Shipping Bourse” lost all its glory and is now only an underpriced, illiquid disaster waiting to happen? We think not. There are still shipping companies worth nearly $5 billion listed in Oslo and although there have been no new IPOs or significant secondary listings for years it would be wrong to disregard it completely. There is still a good mix of non- tanker shipping companies that we feel is worth a second look.

On the coming pages we have taken a sharp look at 8 companies listed in Norway. We will give you a brief description of their current valuations and give a few hints of what should or should not be done to help bring foreign institutional investors back to Oslo.

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Wilhelmsen & HMM: MERGER IN THE ORIENT

On Friday the 22nd of February, Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA asked the Oslo Stock Exchange to suspend trading awaiting an announcement. Rumours were buzzing around Oslo that weekend but three main theories appeared; i) the Wilhelmsen family had had enough of life in the public arena and would tender for the roughly 60% of the economics they did not own. ii) The initial talks with Hyundai Merchant Marine had been successful and a takeover of the ailing Korean shipowner’s car carrier fleet would move forward. iii) The Wallenius family was moving out of shipping and was selling their 50% stake in Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) to the Oslo listed company. Well it wasn’t the first and the third is still a possibility (we will come back to that a little later).

But the second one is now a reality. Representatives from Wilhelmsen and Wallenius are currently in Seoul, performing due diligence on HMM’s car carrier division.

In this article we will look at the rationale(s) for the buyer and seller to enter into these talks and why we feel that there is more to this story than first meets the eye. Before we take a look at the potential transaction let’s take a look at the players involved and see if we can easily spot the reasoning for such a deal.

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