Star Bulk nearly done
On Thursday it agreed financing for seven newbuilds in a deal with DNB Bank, SEB Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM).
The seven ships are the Newcastlemaxes Gargantua, Goliath, Maharaj and Star Poseidon all building at Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co (NACKS) and the Newcastlemax Star Gemini at SWS in China and the capesize vessels Star Aries and Star Taurus, which are also building at SWS.
The first few months of 2015 has seen the US-listed bulker owner secure up to $450m, including this latest deal, to finance its newbuilding programme.
Last month it executed loan agreement with Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank and the China Export & Credit Insurance Corp (Sinosure) for $156.45m to partially finance eight ultramaxes.
The ships are the Honey Badger and Wolverine, which were delivered in late February, and the Star Antares, the Star Lutas, the Kennadi, the Mackenzie, the Night Owl and the Early Bird, which are under construction at Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and NACKS for delivery between July 2015 and November 2015.
The financing is available in eight separate tranches, one for each financed vessel, and will be 95\% credit insured by Sinosure.
Last week Star Bulk entered into a committed term sheet with BNP Paribas for $39.5m for the financing of the capesize newbuilding Megalodon delivering from Japan’s JMU in November 2015 and the panamax Star Emily (built 2004).
A week earlier it entered into another term sheet, this time with DVB Bank, for $31m to finance the capesize newbuilding Deep Blue which is delivering from Japan’s JMU next month.
“At this stage, the company has secured financing for the 30 out of the 32 newbuilding vessels under construction and is currently on the final stages of negotiating the terms for the financing of its last two newbuilding vessels, the SWS Newcastlemax Star Leo and the JMU capesize Behemoth,” Star Bulk said.
source:www.tradewindsnews.com
