A tap issue of three-year notes by Exmar, the listed Belgian gas carrier owner, on the Norwegian bond market has breathed further life to the market after a slow start of the year.
Exmar Netherlands, a fully owned subsidiary company of Exmar in Antwerp, raised NOK300 million (USD40 million) with an issue of the second tranche of the notes. The first tranche of NOK700 million was launched in July last year and the company has now reached the NOK1.0 billion ceiling of the issue.
“Net proceeds from the transaction will be used to finance investments in LNG infrastructure assets and for general corporate purposes. DNB Markets and Pareto Securities acted as joint lead managers for the transaction,” the company said in a statement.
The krone bond market had a slow start of the year, with low price of oil casting a shadow over the offshore services sector and with recovery in many sectors of shipping remaining elusive. However, in March, Oslo-listed London-based chemical carrier group, Stolt-Nielsen, raised NOK1.1 billion on the market and last month, Ocean Yield, the Oslo-listed tonnage provider, followed suit with an NOK1.0 billion issue.
Shipping analysts said there is a network of both domestic and international institutional investors that invest in the krone bond issues of shipping and offshore services companies.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
