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From the Marine Money conference in Oslo: Four CFOs on borrowing well in the best financing market since 2008.

Earlier this month, Star Bulk Carriers, a U.S.-listed owner of dry bulk tonnage, successfully completed a public offer to sell new shares in its home country, Greece.

For several years, U.S.-based offshore marine services company Hornbeck Offshore Services has been plotting its return to the public market. Last week, it got there without having to raise a single dollar.

It is the email or phone call that every lender fears these days: a client requesting to prepay a lease or loan in order to move their business to a lender or lessor offering a lower rate. Companies: Seacon Shipping, AVIC, Guangzhou Yuexiu Financial Leasing, Tianjin Maxwealth Changyang No.4 Leasing, Bank of Ningbo

“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” American statesman Benjamin Franklin famously wrote in 1789. Companies: Bloomberg, American Petroleum Institute, Cato Institute, American Maritime Partnership, American Waterways Operators, Overseas Shipholding Group

Tanker earnings are up sharply since the start of the war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, and many believe the market still has plenty of room to climb further. The truly unprecedented situation, which has grabbed headlines across the maritime trade press and mainstream media alike, is unprecedented.

Over the past decade, more than two dozen private credit funds have entered the ship finance market. The thesis is well established: as commercial banks increasingly focus their balance sheets and attention on larger clients and transactions, non-bank lenders have stepped in to provide small and mid-sized shipowners, which still represent the vast majority of the shipowning community, with fast, flexible, and reliable capital.

Dry cargo owner/operator Cetus Maritime has been among the industry’s most confident dealmakers in recent years — and the momentum keeps building.

In today’s elevated asset market, shipowners face an existential choice: buy, sell, or hold. Companies: NRP Project Finance, Fearnley’s, Clarksons, Simonsen Vogt Wiig, BAHR, Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding, Castor Maritime , Lila Global, Lorentzens Skibs

More than twenty years ago, over a long lunch at the long-gone and much-loved Sushiden, ship finance guru
Peter Evensen told me about a dream he had. I had forgotten about it until this week. Companies: JP Morgan, Fearnley Securities, Castor Maritime, Suisse-Atlantique Group, European Maritime Finance, Daehan Shipbuilding, YieldStreet, Okeanis, CrowdStreet, Fundrise, EquityMultiple, Shipfinex, ADI Chain,

Singapore has been voted the most successful global hub in shipping for several years. This is largely due to government support and, in particular, the pioneering efforts of the MPA (Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore). On Sept. 22, we had the honor of having the Deputy Chief Executive Yi Zhuan Chin of the MPA give opening remarks at our 25th Marine Money Week Asia conference.

The last five years have seen a steady flow of acquisitions in the North American maritime market via M&A transactions, with a handful of key buyers making bolt-on acquisitions to expand and diversify their maritime holdings.

On Tuesday, our friends at BW LPG raised $300 million through the sale of senior unsecured convertible bonds on terms attractive to the issuer, the current shareholders and the new convertible bond holders.

At no point in recent memory has the U.S. maritime industry seen more impactful change than it is experiencing at present. Companies: Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Ocean, Philly Shipyard, Aker ASA, Hanwha Philly Shipyard, anwha Defense USA, Vard Marine U.S., Austal USA , Austal, HD Hyundai, Edison Chouest Offshore, Tampa Ship , Kiewit Offshore Services, Kiewit Corp., Huntington Ingalls Industries, Siemens, Samsung Heavy Industries , Saronic Technologies , Vigor Marine Group , Conrad Shipyard

Offshore drilling coverage is far from a weekly occurrence in this newsletter, but Borr Drilling Ltd.’s July 29 acquisition of five jack-up rigs from Fontis Finance Ltd. is a useful reminder that the same financing tools we track in shipping — non-recourse seller credit, joint-venture structures, opportunistic timing — travel just fine into adjacent asset-heavy sectors. Companies: Borr Drilling Ltd., Fontis Finance Ltd., BC Ventures Ltd., Proyectos Globales de Energía y Servicios, Friede & Goldman, LeTourneau, Valaris Ltd., Transocean Ltd.), Noble Corp., ADES Holding Co. Ltd., Paratus Energy Services, SeaMex, Seadrill, Archer, Seagems, Petrobras, Pemex

“Why are you selling equity in your ship?” I asked a friend.
“Because,” my friend replied. “I didn’t want to miss the chance to sell something in this hot market. Besides, I was bored in my summer cabin and wanted to do something fun, so I structured the deal.”

Greek shipowners have traveled far and wide to find sources of capital in order to build fleets and to become the world’s largest nation group in terms of vessel ownership.

The specific question posed to Mr. Olsen, founder of maritime-focused fundraising shop Langschiff Capital Partners, was this: is there room in the marketplace for more dedicated maritime funds?

On Aug. 7, Seaspan Corporation Pte. Ltd. announced it sold RMB 1.5 billion of three-year notes into China’s domestic bond market on July 15, roughly $210 million, becoming the first international shipowner and operator to issue a Panda bond. Companies: Seaspan Corporation, People’s Bank of China, COSCO, China Shipping , COSCO Shipping, Poseidon Corp., Hengyuan Asset Investment, Ocean Network Express, Fairfax Financial Holdings, International Seaways, Navios Maritime Partners , Scorpio Tankers , Contships Logistics, Daimler, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Pyxis Tankers recently announced plans to issue a $20 million convertible preferred offering, marking its return to the preferred securities market for the first time since redeeming its 7.5% Series A preferred shares in 2024. Companies: Pyxis Tankers, ThinkEquity, Tsakos Energy Navigation, Costamare