This new feature of our annual Benchmarking Issue highlights the relative performance of shipping companies that operate primarily in the same sector.

This marks the final issue of Freshly Minted in 2021. Once again, we are happy to put this year in our rear-view mirror and say goodbye. Yet, in fairness, it was a far better year than 2020 as vaccinations prompted re-openings, a return to work, and a growing economy. By no stretch of the imagination have we returned to normal, whatever that is, but...

Altera Shuttle Tankers L.L.C. successfully placed $180 million in four-year senior unsecured bonds in the Nordic bond market last week. The bonds bear interest at 9.5% in line with initial price talk and were priced at 97 percent. As of Monday, the bonds had traded down slightly to 96% with a yield-to-worst of 10.9%.

On Monday, Höegh Autoliners ASA was admitted to trading on Euronext Growth in Oslo having successfully placed 57.5 million new shares, which includes a 7.5 million share upsize, at NOK 21/share raising gross proceeds of NOK 1,208 million (~$133 million) in a private placement.

The annual Rankings issue has always been a source of genuine discomfort. Underlying human nature are a competitive spirit and the need to win. On the other hand, who wants to rank their friends, and to what purpose? It is simply a means to lose them. Moreover, the Rankings results do not reflect true individual performance, as sector participation or being in the right place at the right time are key determinants of a company’s standing. The question before us was then how to make better use of the data generated by our Rankings model.

Earlier this month, Maritime Partners, LLC, through its managed funds, acquired from J. Russell Flowers, Inc. (“JRF”), a diversified portfolio of over 1,000 marine vessels operating under bareboat charter, including a variety of towboats, tank barges, hopper barges, and deck barges.

Dealogic’s nine-month Marine Finance Rankings held little surprise in terms of the downward trend of loan volumes but were shocking in terms of magnitude. The approximately $19 billion in volume was the lowest recorded since we began tracking this data back in 2005.

Last week, SFL Corporation Ltd. announced that it had agreed to acquire four scrubber-fitted Aframax LR2 product tankers built in 2014/2015 from Frontline Ltd. for an aggregate purchase price of $160 million in combination with long-term time charters to a subsidiary of Trafigura.

As readers of these pages know, we have been waiting patiently for a celebrity shipowner to leverage their personal brand and deep maritime knowledge by tapping the white-hot SPAC market. The only question was who. Would it be pan-global capital markets dealmaker Andreas Sohmen-Pao? Or how about the multi-talented Vangelis Marinakis, the Greek shipping mogul whose activities extend into owning football clubs and even writing the lyrics to popular Greek songs? In the end, it was shipping’s ultimate celebrity who was first to get into the game.

In a recent project financing, Tailwind Management AS together with Pareto Securities AS sought opportunity in the tanker sector, which according to the experts is poised for a recovery. It was not just any tanker deal, however.

We erred in the preparation of two ancillary league table graphs in our annual Credit Issue.

Earlier this month, Odfjell SE fine-tuned its upcoming maturities through a tap issue conducted as a conditional switch from the company’s NOK 600 million June 2022 maturity (ODF09) into its NOK 700 million September 2023 maturity (ODF10).

Looking to tap up to the full borrowing limit of NOK 2 billion, Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA (“WAWI”), announced last month that it had successfully completed a tap issue of NOK 500 million of its NOK 1.5 billion senior unsecured bonds maturing in March 2026 which was successfully concluded back in August.