Belships private placement falls short of target

Belships' private placement of new shares has raised just a fraction of its target, but the company has launched a subsequent offering regardless.

Belships targets $15m purse from private placement in Oslo

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The Oslo-listed bulker owner had set a target of $15m but ended up raising around $8.3m (NOK 72.6m), according to a filing on Wednesday.

The company plans to use proceeds from the placement to grow its business, possibly including vessel acquisitions, as well as for working capital.

Some 10,372,187 offer shares, priced at NOK 7.00 each, were allocated in the placement, which was completed before markets opened in Oslo this morning.

Belships said the book was composed of "high-quality private and institutional investors".

"We are pleased to have reached another important milestone for the company. We will continue to execute our growth strategy with the aim of value creation, increasing the liquidity and attractivity of owning our shares," said Belships' chief executive, Lars Christian Skarsgard.

Skarsgard was among several Belships insiders who together purchased a total of 237,500 of the offer shares in the placement.

The chief executive's shareholding in the company stands at 414,900 shares plus 5,000,000 options.

Subsequent offering

The shipowner has today launched a subsequent repair offering of up to 1,603,128 new shares, aimed at shareholders who held Belships' securities as of Tuesday but were not allocated shares in the private placement.

The shares in the repair offering will be priced at NOK 7.00 each and could raise up to NOK 11.2m ($1.3m) if all are sold.

The subsequent offering is expected to be completed by the end of July.