Lenders are continuing their retreat, private equity has learned hard lessons and it’s tough to make the case for an initial public offering even in freight-market conditions that appear to be improving across most sectors.

But opportunities continue to present for alternative-capital providers including Chinese leasing companies, which are filling gaps where more traditional sources of finance sputter.

That was the takeaway from financial panels at Capital Link’s annual shipping and offshore forum in New York today.

Amit Wynalda, head of shipping Americas for ABN Amro, admitted it was tempting to be able to tell the story of ship lenders returning to the marketplace after years of retreat.

But he resisted the temptation.

“Some banks are returning to the market, but we also see some of the usual suspects leaving,” Wynalda said.

“That’s difficult. I’d like to be positive and say everyone’s in and it’s back to the old days, but it’s not the case.”

Veteran financier Michael Parker, global shipping head for Citi, said the possibility of even heavier regulation under the Basel 4 lending protocols raises darker prospects.

Basel 4 “would kill shipping finance forever or require margins of 10% or more,” though he added with some relief, “it may not happen.”

Still, $50bn more of liquidity could leave the market over the next few years as banks face increasing pressure from regulators, he said.

Meanwhile, a panel of capital markets experts covering the principal exchange in New York and secondary bourses such as Oslo seemed challenged to describe what conditions might offer a comeback after nearly three years without a Wall Street shipping IPO.

While the general stock market has, apart from some recent reversals, seen phenomenal growth, shipping has failed to tap the trend, noted Rikard Vabo, head of corporate finance for Fearnley Securities.

“We’re setting new records in the tech sector every day — right now the only records we’ve been setting in shipping the last two years are record lows,” he said, while noting an improving market offers hope to change that.

Christa Volpicelli, managing director at Citi, said even some highly regarded shipowners are trading at 60 percent to 80 percent discounts to their NAVs.

Even with investor interest, “it’s not a great time to be issuing equity.”

And for Jefferies managing director Todd Wilson, “I wish there were a multi-billion dollar market-cap company IPOing because that’s what investors would embrace, but it doesn’t exist.”

Into the capital void step providers like James Lightbourn of Alterna Capital, Morten Arntzen of Macquarie Bank, NIck Roos of Maritime Asset Partners and Marius Magelie of Ocean Yield — all making up a panel on that topic.

All say they are open for business and doing it — just at rates ranging from somewhat-higher to significantly higher than traditional ship-mortgage interest.

The same is true for Bill Guo, executive director of ICBC Leasing, who sat in on the traditional lender panels.

“There’s a whole world out there that is willing to provide financing at 8% or 9% or 10%,” said Martin Van Tuijl, managing director for DVB Bank.