This week we head again to Oslo but not to the bond market; instead, we deviate to what seems to us to be the re-opening of another Norwegian specialty market — the project business.

In today's new lexicon, B.C. may come to mean "Before Covid," with March 16, 2020 defining that moment here in the US, as social distancing rules went into effect on that day. As we write this introduction, it has been 11 long weeks since we have withdrawn from society, and the period before Covid has become a distant memory. Since the pandemic struck, too many lives have been lost, and the world's economies have collapsed. When facing an unknown future, is anything that preceded it of any consequence? Yet it would be disingenuous for us to ignore what went before. There is no doubt that this will be a chapter in history textbooks — and a significant one — but it will still only be a chapter.

See the deal flow Marine Money observed during the month of March. A total of 14 deals, totaling over $1.3 billion...

Despite the immense challenges presented by a near global lockdown, eightmarine finance deals were reported in April which raised a total of $1,027 million.

The sale last week of the ADS Stratus by ADS Crude Carriers Plc for a price of $25.5 million piqued our interest.

Traditionally, we view transactions simply from the borrowers' perspective. Money is borrowed and repaid. Done and dusted. Except these deals also have a life on the lenders' balance sheets and must therefore be carefully managed for risk. There are general and specific reserves at the transaction level and capital ratios at the corporate level.

With $1,620 million of deals capital markets transactions announced, July was a robust month for transactions. Upon closer inspection, the month was less stellar as the bulk of the proceeds were...

Having been notified that ~1,937,943 shares of its common stock have already been validly tendered,Diana Shipping Inc.announced on Monday that it is extending and increasing its tender offer for its common stock from 1,408,450 shares to 2,816,900 shares, representing 3.0% of the shares currently outstanding, at the same offering price of $3.55 per share.

New business volume is a key determinant of portfolio size. Lenders are on a treadmill with growth challenged by the need to replace run-off. The chart illustrates the significant new business concluded last year.

Based upon Triton International Limited's financing activities over the past three weeks, it appears that they have a license to print money. The timing was ripe. A recent jump in container lease demand and investment allowed Triton to conclude a substantial number of attractive new long-term lease transactions in the third quarter to date, and container pick-ups under these leases have driven its utilization to approximately 96.1% currently from 94.8% at June 30, 2020. To that end, the company was able to take advantage of the current attractive financing markets to support the recent jump in container lease demand and investment.

Marine Money has covered a steady procession of challenges faced by ship finance, and the maritime industry as a whole, over the last decade. These crises were all weathered by a resilient and innovative industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic may be different.

On Monday, Stolt-Nielsen Limited announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Stolt Tankers B.V., agreed to acquire five chemical tankers from Chemical Transportation Group ("CTG"), a company controlled by Peter Georgiopoulos, for trading in the Stolt Tankers Joint Service.