Safe Bulkers has become the third shipping company to sell bonds on the Athens Exchange.
The Polys Hajioannou-led company successfully raised €100m ($114m) in a sale of unsecured, five-year paper, according to a statement by book runners late on Wednesday.
This is about the same amount and paper as that issued last year by Greek peers Costamare and Capital Product Partners (CPLP), which broke the market open.
However, the Safe Bulkers' bonds met less interest and paid a higher coupon than the two earlier sales.
The owner — with nearly 50 bulkers in the water and under construction — offered bondholders 2.95% interest in an issue oversubscribed by a factor of 1.95 times.
In comparison, Costamare sold its bonds in May at an annual coupon of 2.7% and CPLP in October at 2.65% in deals oversubscribed by between five and seven times.
Investor's dwindling appetite is not surprising, given that financial markets wobbled recently as central banks started hiking interest rates to keep a lid on inflation.
Greek government bond yields, a key benchmark for local bond sales, rose sharply on such concerns earlier this month.
The bond sale is nevertheless a success for Safe Bulkers, which diversifies its funding by selling bonds at a much lower cost than what it would have paid if it had sold such paper in other financial markets.
Shipping bonds represent the first opportunity for investors based in Greece to directly invest in their country’s oceangoing shipping. Attracted by the aura of the industry in its home country, they have been keen to grab the opportunity.
Private retail investors scooped up 68% of the Safe Bulkers bond.
The bookbuilding process was run by local banks — Piraeus, Alpha and Optima — as well as Euroxx Securities.
