New York-listed Navios Maritime Acquisition is banking up to $100m as a loan from a company affiliated to its chief executive, Angeliki Frangou.
The secured debt agreement was arranged with a subsidiary of N Shipmanagement Acquisition Corp, the tanker owner said.
The money will be used for general corporate purposes over two years.
Interest is fixed at 11% per year. Navios Acquisition can choose to defer all payments, but the rate will then rise to 12.5%.
There is also an option from August for the Frangou company to acquire ownership interest in Navios Acquisition subsidiary Navios Maritime Midstream Partners, which owns 10 LR1 tankers, 14 MR2s and an MR1.
Collateral consists of the Midstream tankers, plus equity interests in companies holding bareboat charter-in contracts for two Navios Acquisition VLCCs and $67.4m in ship mortgage notes.
Navios Acquisition has already drawn $18m under the loan.
The company's directors formed a special committee of independent and disinterested directors to evaluate the deal.
2016 controversy
Navios Acquisition had previously run into controversy in 2016 over inter-group borrowing.
The company reversed course on a $50m loan to parent Navios Maritime Holdings that led to criticism from analysts and spurred a lawsuit by a shareholder.
That revolver was issued at Libor plus 3% and secured by shares in Navios Holdings subsidiary Navios Europe Holdings and by 8m shares in containership and bulker spin-off Navios Maritime Partners.
Analyst Michael Webber, then of Wells Fargo, said at the time that the deal ended up being a lightning rod for criticism due to its pricing between the related parties.
In February, Navios Acquisition pushed ahead with the sale of more vessels inherited from a dissolved shipowning vehicle amid a surging containership market.
Athens brokers reported that the company sold the 1,700-teu sisterships Acrux N and Vita N (both built 2010) to China’s Goto Shipping for $9.5m each.
