Cypriot shipowner Castor Maritime has succeeded in selling shares worth $20.7m as it plots secondhand bulker buys.
The Nasdaq-listed company said it had closed an upsized offering of 51.4m shares at a price of $0.35 each. Each share included a warrant to buy another over the next five years.
New York's Maxim Group acted as the sole book-running manager in connection with the offering and bought another 7.71m shares and warrants itself through an over-allotment option.
Castor said it wanted the money for ship acquisitions, capital expenditures and general corporate use.
The stock closed down nearly 12% at $0.41 in the US on Friday. Its market cap is now just $4.68m.
The move followed a similar share deal to that achieved by rival Globus Maritime last week, also underwritten by Maxim.
Strong investor demand
Globus, another small-cap Nasdaq shipping company, added nearly $14m to its coffers by also selling shares and warrants, using the same bookrunner, Maxim Group. The company then launched a second offer for another $12m worth of stock.
The bulker owner upsized its offer after encountering strong investor demand, and Castor did the same.
Castor reported a deficit for the first quarter amid higher expenses.
The Petros Panagiotidis-led owner of three bulkers made a $259,868 loss, versus a $55,969 profit during the same period last year.
The stock closed at $0.63 in New York on Tuesday.
In April, the company was given more time by the Nasdaq exchange to bring this back above the minimum requirement of $1.
