Dealogic’s Marine Finance Rankings for the first nine months of the year were released last week and they continued to show a decline in syndicated loan activity, a reflection of both the economy and geopolitical events. In its battle against inflation, central banks have raised interest rates pushing the world economy closer to recession.

Back in May, American Shipping ASA (“AMSC”) announced its purchase of the offshore construction vessel Normand Maximus from Maximus Limited, a company controlled by its secured lenders. In conjunction with the transaction, AMSC will enter into a bareboat charter for 5+5+5 years with a subsidiary of leading offshore services provider Solstad Offshore ASA (“Solstad”), adding $150m of contracted backlog, and up to $450m in total backlog if extension options are exercised.

Last week, Höegh LNG Holdings Ltd. (“Höegh LNG”) announced that it had completed its previously announced acquisition of Höegh LNG Partners LP (“HMLP”).

d’Amico International Shipping S.A., on Monday, announced that it has exercised its purchase option on the leased M/T High Adventurer, a 50,000 dwt MR2 product tanker built in November 2017 by Onomichi Dockyard Co., Ltd., Japan, for a consideration of JPY 4.1 billion (equivalent to approximately $ 30.4 million).

It was 1992 when Jim’s little brother, Philip “Phil Babe” Lawrence, dreamed up the idea for Marine Money’s Rankings issue, which is now called “Benchmarking.”

Last week, d’Amico International Shipping S.A. (“DIS”), announced that it had signed a new $54.2 million five-year term loan facility with Crédit Agricole CIB and ING for the purpose of refinancing the loans related to the following five vessels...

Values are up. Ships are middle-aged. Taking advantage of a strong tanker market, Concordia Maritime has entered into an agreement for the sale of its three oldest product tankers, Stena Primorsk, Stena Performance, and Stena Provence to a European-based buyer with delivery expected to take place during the fourth quarter of 2022.

Earlier this month, Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. completed the previously announced sale of its dry bulk fleet to its affiliate, Navios Maritime Partners, for consideration of $835 million consisting of cash and the assumption of bank debt and finance leases.

Last week, International Maritime Industries (“IMI”), the largest shipyard in the MENA region, endorsed the newly launched Global Maritime Fund (“GMF”) which will be managed by Pelagic Partners, an Alternative Investment Fund Manager founded by the Hartmann and Abou Merhi families, which manages one of the biggest shipping portfolios in Cyprus.

Last week, Poseidon Acquisition Corp., on behalf of a consortium composed of David L. Sokol, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atlas Corp. (“ATCO”), certain affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, the Washington Family, and Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd. (the “Consortium”), announced it has unilaterally increased its bid price to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Atlas Corp. that the Consortium does not already own or control from $14.45/share to $15.50/share in cash, an increase of 7.3 percent.

Last month, Performance Shipping Inc. announced that it agreed to acquire the M/T Alpine Amalia (T/B/R P. Aliki), a 105,304 dwt LR2 Aframax oil product tanker, built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, for a gross purchase price of $36.5 million.

In the world of spies, HUMINT is preferable to SIGINT. Thus, we were fortunate this week to hear from two market participants who provided insights into what is currently happening in their respective markets.