A year ago, we celebrated pioneering offshore wind transactions by OHT (Private Placement and Merkur listing) and Cadeler (Oslo Bors IPO) as our Offshore Deals of the Year for 2020. As firsts of their kind, we noted that they broke the ice for future capital raising in the sector, not only for their roles in educating the investor community on the rapidly growing sector, but also for the blueprint they provided for a successful offering.

Having a bent toward complexity and finding solutions for all parties, Berenberg clearly wants to make this category its own.

No one likes it when a CEO or CFO whines about their stock price. Certainly not investors or the media. You can threaten to take the company private, but you can only use the nuclear option once as there is little or no likelihood of return.

Mergers are always difficult to execute in commodity shipping. There are social issues, control issues, trust issues, confidentiality issues, my-ships-are-better-than-your-ships issues, issues associated with market volatility, investor reluctance, board misgivings, compensation issues, pride in operations issues, and issues around post-transaction staff and management redundancy.

To Be, Or Not to Be…a consolidated industrial, publicly traded shipping company?

Established in 1896 and a pioneer of offshore loading (Shuttle) tankers since the 1980s, the Knutsen Group is no newcomer to ship finance.

Representing the first time that a ship finance platform was sold in the secondary market, KKR’s acquisition of Ocean Yield in November 2021 was brilliant in its efficiency.

On November 24th, 2021, Höegh Autoliners, one of the leading global operators in the car carrier shipping segment, completed a landmark private placement of NOK 1,365m (USD 135m).

In a year when the term sustainable financing not only picked up significance, but also garnered legitimate award worthy transactions, it has been difficult to choose just one.

Shipping companies generally issue preferred shares for three basic reasons: (1) they need the cash; (2) their balance sheet can’t support more cheap debt; and (3) their share price is so low that issuing common equity would be unduly dilutive to shareholders.

Some strategic acquisitions can be inspirational, and Hafnia’s acquisition of Chemical Tankers Inc. is one of them. This mutually beneficial transaction is a case study in how leveraging the expertise, assets and capital of two adjacent businesses can increase service offerings to existing customers, expand the client base, and create value for owners and other stakeholders.

Last January, Odfjell SE successfully completed a new sustainability-linked four-year senior unsecured bond issue of NOK 850 million (~$100 million).