Hoegh LNG Holdings of Norway has raised NOK844 million (USD100 million) in a private placement of shares.
The listed LNG carrier and floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) company in the Leif Hoegh group placed 6.92 million shares with institutional investors at a price of NOK122/share. The face value of the shares is USD0.01.
The placement represented 9.90% of the outstanding share capital in the company and it was oversubscribed, the company said. The proceeds are to be used to finance further growth by new FSRU orders and for general corporate purposes.
“We are very pleased to have concluded this fundraising supporting Hoegh LNG’s growth strategy,” said Sveinung J Stohle, its president and chief executive officer.
“With the support from existing and new shareholders, the company has broadened its shareholder base, increased the free float in its share and further strengthened its financial position,” he said. “This enables the company to take an even more active role in the growing LNG industry and further strengthen its competitive position in the FSRU segment.”
On 27 August the group, which owns four FSRUs and five LNG carriers, reported a second-quarter net profit of USD 5.9 million, compared with a loss of USD8.6 million in the same period last year. Revenues rose to USD50.2 million from USD17.2 million.
A company statement noted that it “has already experienced lower LNG prices that have led to higher demand for FSRUs, and the company’s list of potential FSRU projects worldwide has increased from around 30 to around 35 in past few months”.
Erik Nikolai Stavseth and Kurt Waldeland, shipping analysts at Arctic in Oslo, said a few days after the second-quarter interims, Hoegh LNG’s management reiterated the intention to have 12 FSRUs in operation or on order by 2019. However, with demand strengthening, the two analysts think the company could increase the tempo because they see the open FSRUs being potentially fixed in 2015. They reiterated a ‘buy’ recommendation for Hoegh LNG shares, with a target price of NOK200.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
