Wisdom Marine has unveiled plans to raise almost TWD 2.19bn ($71m) from the sale of bonds and new shares for fleet expansion, installation of ballast water treatment systems and debt repayments.
The Taiwan-listed bulker owner proposes to sell up to 80 million new shares for no more than TWD 800m, which will be used for fleet expansion, according to an exchange filing.
In late-March, Wisdom Marine said it would order a 38,000-dwt bulker at Namura Shipbuilding for up to $25.5m and a 63,300-dwt bulker at Tsuneishi Shipbuilding for $31m.
Those vessels are scheduled to be delivered in 2021.
“We currently have not included scrubbers in the deals but we might consider to install scrubbers at a later stage,” chief financial officer Bruce Hsueh told TradeWinds.
Separately, the board of Wisdom Marine has approved a plan to raise up to TWD 1.39bn via sales of secured bonds in Taiwan for installing ballast water treatment systems on its existing fleet and repaying debt.
The five-year bonds will be attached with an annual interest rate of 0.86%. Taiwan Cooperative Securities will the underwriter.
Wisdom Marine posted a net profit of $60m on operating revenues of $433m in 2018, showing improvement from net profit of $13.7m on operating revenues of $363m in 2017.
Amid continued fleet expansion, short-term borrowings rose to nearly $51m as of 31 December 2018 from the year-ago level of $44.4m.
The company owns a fleet 131 vessels in operation and 14 on order, most of which are supramax and handysize bulkers.
According to Clarksons, Wisdom Marine is the world’s third largest owner of handysize bulkers by the number of ships.
