Eagle Bulk has upsized an existing loan by $34.3m, part of which will be used to fund scrubber installations on three recently acquired bulk carriers.
The extra financing has been added to an existing five-year senior secured term loan provided by a syndicate of six lenders to Eagle Bulk Ultraco, a shipowning subsidiary of the Nasdaq-listed bulker operator.
The incremental amount of the facility is secured by three ultramaxes recently acquired by Eagle Bulk, which are the 63,500-dwt vessels Copenhagen Eagle, Dublin Eagle, and Sydney Eagle (all built 2015).
Eagle Bulk said net proceeds from the loan will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures relating to the installation of scrubbers.
Financing for the incremental term loan has been provided by Eagle Bulk’s existing lenders, which are ABN AMRO; Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank; Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken; DNB Bank; Danish Ship Finance and Nordea.
The existing five-year facility bears an interest rate of Libor plus 2.50% and matures in 2024.
Increased financing
Last month saw Eagle Bulk move to increase its financial firepower by filing a shelf registration for a possible $750m equity raise, which would fund fleet expansion and general business costs.
As part of last month's filing, Eagle also recorded up to 50.7m common shares for possible shareholder resale, including 34.3m covered by a prior registration.
The Gary Vogel-led bulker owner logged the multimillion-dollar shelf filing with the SEC in early August after acquiring six ultramaxes.
