Last week, J. Lauritzen A/S issued NOK 500 million of 5-year senior unsecured bonds in the Oslo market, which were largely placed in Denmark to a mix of institutional and retail clients, reflecting the company’s base. With a corporate rating of B+ by both lead arrangers, the bonds were priced at NIBOR + 8.25%. While the official use of proceeds is for general corporate purposes, the company is clear that they are in the process of raising funds to build a war chest and prepare for growth.

Dealogic last week issued it 9-month Bookrunner and MLA Tables for Syndicated Marine Finance Loans and the downward trend in volume, which commenced in the second quarter with the re-appearance of the European debt crisis, continued. This trend is not your friend. On a year-over-year basis, Marine Finance loans, which consist of both shipping and offshore service loans, declined 37.8% in line with anecdotal evidence. The good news, if any, was that the rate of decline was not as substantial as the first half which showed a decline of 57.4%.

Back in May, Aker Solutions ASA, a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technologies, product solutions and field-life solutions for the oil and gas industry, went to market with a NOK 1.5 billion Senior Unsecured Floating Rate Open Bond issue. The term of the issue was five years and the bond was priced at NIBOR + 4.25%. Last week, the company returned this time with a 7-year NOK 1 billion senior unsecured bond, which amount was at the wide end of the range with one of the longer tenors available.

This week we close the loop and add some color on the Drill Rigs Holdings’ five year $800 million bond offering which also priced on Thursday.

Leave it to Mr. Economou to find his way back to Wall Street. Following on the heels of Monday’s announced 3-year contract with Repsol for its first drillship newbuilding, Ocean Rig UDW Inc. announced the private offering, by its subsidiary, Drill Rig Holdings, Inc., of $750 million of senior secured notes due in 2017 under Rule 144A. Despite the Norwegian pedigree, size surely dictated New York.

With its various iterations of the registration statements on file the Peter Livanos vehicle, GasLog Ltd. at last achieved the desired end result and began the process of marketing its IPO this week. In this final version, the company intends to sell 23.5 million shares with a price range of $16-$18 per share, which would generate gross proceeds of $399.5 million at the midpoint. In addition, the company intends to sell to insiders a further $3.7 million of shares. Post-offering, the public will own approximately 37.4% of the outstanding shares.

It was the big one and it wasn’t high yield! A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S came to Oslo last Thursday looking to issue five-year floating rate senior unsecured bonds. Unusually, no specified amount was mentioned and the company was undecided on a maximum amount although it reserved the right to close the books if the amount exceeded NOK 2.5 billion. Well they blew through that number selling NOK 3 billion ($520 million) of these bonds at par. It is likely one of the biggest corporate NOK deals done.

DNB, Nordea, Pareto and SEB as Joint Lead Managers have successfully placed a NOK 500 million (~USD 90 million) 5-year senior unsecured bond for BW Offshore priced at 3-month NIBOR + 4.25%. Proceeds are for general corporate purposes. An application will be made for the bonds to be listed on the Oslo Børs, where BW Offshore is also listed.