Nasdaq-listed Castor Maritime is trying to avoid stock dilution through a new buyback of warrants.
The Limassol-based owner of bulkers and container ships said it will pay $0.105 for each of 10.33m outstanding warrants sold in April 2021.
These are convertible into 103,307 shares at $55.30 per warrant.
The full buyback would cost Castor $1.1m. The warrants, convertible over five years, would be worth $341,000 if converted into shares at the current trading price of $3.30 in New York.
Payment will be in cash, with no interest. The offer expires on 20 May.
When the warrants were sold, Castor was trading at $20 per share.
The owner said the aim was to “reduce the number of shares” that would become outstanding.
This will provide “investors and potential investors with greater clarity as to the company’s capital structure”, the company said.
Castor is controlled by major shareholder Petros Panagiotidis, its chief executive.
There are 9.66m shares outstanding.
Back in compliance
Last week, Castor said it had regained compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements.
The company had to boost its share price back above the minimum $1 level.
The owner carried out a reverse stock split at the end of March, converting every 10 shares into one.
The stock was trading at $0.40 when it announced the measure.
Castor, which owns 14 vessels, was put on notice by the Nasdaq in April last year that the price had fallen below $1 for 30 straight days.
The company was given six months to put this right, which was extended by another six months in October.
In September, shareholders approved a stock split at a ratio somewhere between one-for-two and one-for-100.
