Shipowners Zhonggu Logistics and OOIL are selling shares at record high levels to fund their containership orderbooks.
Shanghai-listed Zhonggu has banked net proceeds of $423.3m after selling 92m shares in a private transaction.
The cash will fund new ships, as well as new containers and the development of a digital container transport platform.
Chinese port companies, including Shandong Port and Tianjin Port, were the largest subscribers.
Overseas investors like Sino-American Invesco Great Wall Fund Management and Nordisk Fund Management also snapped up shares.
Chinese orderbook
Zhonggu Shipping Group retains a 57.5% stake and is the biggest shareholder.
Zhonggu Logistics has 18 containerships of 4,600 teu on order at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding following an initial public offering in September 2020.
Operating profit hit a record of CNY 1.47bn ($228m) in the first half of 2021.
Hong Kong-listed OOIL, which owns container line OOCL, said it is raising HKD 3.47bn ($447m) through a sale of stock by the largest shareholder, Cosco Shipping Holdings' Faulkner Global Holdings.
Faulkner will offer 23.2m shares at HKD 151 each, representing 3.5% of the capital.
OOIL will use $250m for payments towards 12 23,000-teu newbuildings at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering, and $160m on 10 16,000-teu units on order at the same yard and at Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering.
The remaining $36m will go on new containers and be used for general corporate purposes.
OOIL's shares have risen 320% over the past year in hot markets. The offer price is an 8.8% discount to its closing price on 9 September.
