Taiwanese container line Evergreen Marine is heading overseas for a new euro convertible bond issue.
The sale of $300m worth of securities is the first of its kind for the shipowner, which has been hit by the coronavirus slowdown.
The debt matures over five years.
The coupon will be temporarily set at 0%, but the issue will then be switched into Taiwanese dollars. A permanent interest rate was not revealed.
The money will be used to finance the purchase of "materials and equipment overseas", Evergreen Marine said.
State loan guarantees
In June, the company said it was applying for TWD 8bn ($271.5m) in loans to be guaranteed by the government.
Taiwan launched a relief package of more than TWD 30bn in May for its main shipping companies.
Officials from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications met the chairmen of Evergreen and Yang Ming Marine Transport to discuss the scheme.
TradeWinds reported the package is composed of TWD 30bn credit guarantees and TWD 243m in subsidies for interest payments.
The state did not reveal how much financial support Evergreen and Yang Ming will receive, but they were expected to be the main beneficiaries.
With the Covid-19 crisis hitting container shipping demand, the number of lines in need of government support has been increasing.
French operator CMA CGM and South Korea's HMM have together received state-backed loans totalling more than $1.71bn.
Evergreen logged a net loss of TWD 442m in the first quarter, compared to profit of TWD 560m in the same period of last year.
Revenue fell to TWD 43.5bn from TWD 45.7bn.
In late 2016, Taiwan reportedly offered $1.9bn relief to Evergreen and Yang Ming, which were caught up in the container shipping industry’s last downturn.
