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Earlier this month, DFDS successfully priced, at par, two tranches of senior unsecured bonds totaling NOK 1,500 million in total. Making the process easier, DFDS had earlier obtained an issuer and senior unsecured debt rating of BBB- (stable) from Scope.

A few weeks ago, Genco Shipping & Trading Limited reported its financial results for the three months and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and in that report there was a review of the company’s comprehensive value strategy.

Last week, Belships ASA announced that it had entered into agreements to acquire three new 64 000 dwt Ultramax bulk carriers which are being constructed at Japanese shipyards with delivery expected to occur in Q4 2024, Q4 2025, and Q1 2026.

The disruption to the tanker trades created by the war in Ukraine has created an immense opportunity for tanker investments. Unfortunately, demand far exceeds supply, but that was not an issue for Pareto Securities, which cleverly worked both sides of a trade, creating a likely win-win transaction for both the seller and buyer.

Going to extremes, Danaos Corporation cleaned its house of debt creating a proverbial fortress balance sheet. With the container market in steady decline, economic conditions uncertain, and a substantial orderbook to be delivered, the yellow traffic light urged caution.

Last Thursday, TORM announced that it had entered into two transactions, the first an acquisition, with a financing twist, and the second a refinancing coupled with a new commitment.

Back in May of last year, International Seaways Inc. refinanced three existing credit facilities into a new senior secured credit facility of $750 million, composed of a $530 million term loan and a revolving credit facility of $220 million.

For Navios Maritime Partners L.P., 2022 was a very good year as it reported revenue of $1.2 billion, and net income of $579.2 million suggestive that its strategy of operating a diversified fleet is working.

The quarterly earnings reports of the majority of shipping companies highlight the fact that the industry has a wished for problem – what to do with its mountains of cash. Of course, capital allocation provides the necessary answers.

Late week, in a highly accelerated process, Color Group AS successfully placed a new 3.5-year senior unsecured bond issue of NOK 900 million.

Up until recently, one would have thought it would be less risky to be a banker than a shipowner. After all, provided the bankers make the correct credit decision, all that is necessary is to sit back and collect interest and principal.

Last week, Ocean Yield AS successfully completed a new four-year NOK 750 million senior unsecured bond issue, which represents the initial issue amount drawn from a borrowing limit of NOK 1,500 million.

Like other earlier beneficiaries of leasing, Höegh Autoliners ASA continues the process of unwinding its bareboat leases through the exercise of purchase options with the intent of reducing the cash capacity cost of the vessels, realizing value gains from the lease purchase options and to have better capacity cost control in an overheated charter market.

Golden Ocean Group Limited announced last week it had entered into an agreement to acquire six modern 208,000-dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers equipped with scrubbers for total consideration of $291 million.

Last week, Höegh LNG Holdings Ltd. announced that it has signed a new loan facility with a strong group of international banks to refinance the FSRUs Höegh Esperanza and Höegh Gannet, which are both employed on ten-year charters to the Federal Government of Germany.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. last week announced that it has exercised the purchase options on six ships including two 2016-built LR2 product tankers (STI Grace and STI Jermyn), one 2019-built LR2 product tanker (STI Lavender), two 2019-built MR product tankers (STI Magnetic and STI Marshall), and one 2020-built MR product tanker (STI Miracle).

Certainly, a “near-death” experience captures one’s attention fully. In the case of Teekay, that description is not quite apt, but without a doubt the company, back in 2020, faced a mountain of debt. Their fate was determined.

In its Q4 2022 earnings release, Star Bulk Carriers Corp. reported on the state of its balance sheet. During 2022 and January 2023, Star Bulk completed $430.0 million of new refinancings resulting in the extension of the average maturity of its outstanding debt from 3.6 to 4.3 years, interest savings of approximately $5.2 million annually from more competitive margins while leaving it with 13 unencumbered vessels.

The highlights from Flex LNG’s Q4 2022 earnings release reflect remarkable achievements by its management team. It all began with the addition of a minimum of 38 years during 2022 to its contractual backlog through the extension of time charters with existing customers.

In his note on DHT Holdings, Inc.’s Q4 earnings, Evercore’s Jon Chappell noted that: “DHT has done most of the heavy lifting on cycle-proofing its capital structure, getting its balance sheet to a place (20% net debt to capital at year-end 2022) where capital returns and fleet investment do not have to be mutually exclusive.”