Diana Shipping has signed up to a $200m loan to help finance its purchase of a string of ultramax bulkers from Sea Trade Holdings.
The New York-listed bulker owner said the term loan will be provided by Nordea, a bank headquartered in Finland.
Details of the senior secured loan were not disclosed, and chief financial officer Ioannis Zafirakis said more information will be found in subsequent securities filings.
The finance deal comes more than seven weeks after Semiramis Paliou-led Diana Shipping agreed to pay $330m for the Sea Trade fleet of nine ultramaxes.
The ships, built between 2015 and 2018, will be delivered to the Greek shipowner in the fourth quarter of the year.
The loan will pay for just part of the transaction.
As TradeWinds has reported, Diana agreed to pay Sea Trade $220m in cash and the rest in company shares.
US Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that after the deal is completed, Sea Trade’s nearly 18.5m shares will give it a 17.7% in Diana.
That would make Connecticut-based Sea Trade the largest shareholder in Diana.
At the time of Diana’s annual report in April, Paliou’s 16.4m shares gave her a 19.1% stake. But with the new Sea Trade stake bringing the total outstanding share count to nearly 105m, that would shrink to 15.7% after the deal.
When the deal is completed, it will bring Diana’s fleet to 43 bulkers and add the first ultramaxes to a stable that includes four newcastlemaxes, 11 standard capesizes, five post-panamaxes, six kamsarmaxes and eight standard panamaxes.
