Diana Shipping has spent $8m in buying back outstanding bonds that are due to mature in September 2023.
The New York-listed bulker owner has repurchased its senior unsecured bonds in its 18/23 bond issue, which is has a US dollar fixed-rate coupon of 9.50%.
Diana raised $100m when it issued the bonds in September 2018.
"Following this buyback, the company holds bonds equal to $8m of the nominal amount of the outstanding bonds in the bond issue," Diana said in a statement on Tuesday.
The next coupon payment for the bonds is due on 27 September.
Diana had $111m in available cash at the end of the first quarter, leaving plenty of liquidity to buy back its bonds and make payments on them.
The 18/23 bond was trading on Tuesday at 90.7 cents with 13.5% yield to worst (YTW) ratio, according to data from Fearnleys.
Strong balance sheet, 'conservative' strategy
After extending a bank loan last week and selling a panamax bulker, Diana now has no debt maturities until 2022.
"Whilst several companies have sought to shore up liquidity through opportunistic refinancing solutions during the crisis, Diana Shipping has benefitted from a strong balance sheet and delivered on its conservative strategy by refinancing several bank facilities in due course without adding further debt," Fearnleys equity analysts remarked in a research note last week.
The Athens-based shipowner bought back $58m worth of its shares during 2019.
In February, Diana spent another $10m in buying back its shares in a tender offer that was oversubscribed by six times.
Chief strategy officer Ioannis Zafirakis told TradeWinds in December that Diana would keep purchasing its stock, as long as its share price is below net asset value (NAV).
