Tor Olav Troim’s 2020 Bulkers has banked $70.2m as the newcastlemax specialist set sail for the Oslo Stock Exchange.
New and existing shareholders supported the issue, which saw 7.8 million shares printed at $9 each.
The shipowner has secured the cash during a busy week in the Norwegian capital markets, which saw the offering go out at the same time as Arne Fredly’s Hunter raised almost $80m.
2020 Bulkers was initially expected to flip its ships before delivery but pivoted early this year and opted to operate the vessels.
The company, Troim’s first pure-shipowning venture, will now head to the Oslo Stock Exchange after spending its early life on the city's over the counter market.
It has completed the issue at a time Korean rival Polaris has been exploring a listing in the Norwegian capital.
On Wednesday it emerged Troim’s Magni Partners, Halvorsens Fabrikk, Titan Credit Master Fund and MH Capital had agreed to take $8m of the shares on offer.
It is not yet clear how much each has injected into the project after the placement closed today.
Clarksons Platou Securities, Danske Bank, DNB Markets, Fearnley Securities, Nordea Bank, Pareto Securities and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken were all on the 2020 Bulkers raise.
It has eight scrubber-fitted newcastlemax vessels under construction at New Times Shipyard in China for delivery between September 2019 and May 2020.
Three of the ships have been chartered to Koch.
The first vessel is on an indexed rate for three years, with the other two on one-year deals at slightly less than $20,000 per day and one at $22,000 per day, brokers say.
This represents a significantly higher level than standard capsizes are presently fetching.
Last week Koch took the 177,000-dwt Baltimore (built 2005) for 19 to 22 months from Diana Shipping at $15,000 per day.
However the 2020 Bulkers ships are larger and state of the art vessels including scrubbers.
Chief executive Marius Halvorsen says the company does not want to increase the fleet, but “rather focus on best achievable dividends on the ships we already have”
2020 Bulkers will join Troim’s offshore venture Borr Drilling on the Oslo Stock Exchange. His Golar LNG is listed in the US.
Troim is also working on an independent listing for Golar's LNG carrier fleet.
This story has been updated since first publication to include details on charters for three of the 2020 Bulkers ships.
