Two of the leading lenders to initial public offering hopeful GoodBulk have been able to leverage their positions into prominent roles as underwriters of the prospective US listing.

The presence of both Credit Suisse and ABN Amro on both the mortgage-financing and investment-banking sides of the Nasdaq offering continues a trend in which lenders expect to generate fees beyond the sometimes-slim margins they garner through loans.

Credit Suisse in August 2017 provided a $50m term loan that is currently secured by five fully owned vessels in the GoodBulk fleet, according to GoodBulk’s filing with US securities regulators on 1 June.

The Swiss lender grabbed the second-lead bookrunner position on the offering after Morgan Stanley, as John Michael Radziwill’s company brings 25 bulkers to New York in what would be the first successful mainstream shipping IPO since Gener8 Maritime in June 2015.

Sizeable player

The biggest lender to GoodBulk is Dutch bank ABN Amro, which has advanced $145m in two separate facilities signed in March and December 2017, secured by nine owned vessels to date.

ABN Amro takes an underwriting spot on the second line of the offering as a co-manager.

The only GoodBulk lender not to make the underwriting team is Danish Ship Finance, which in November 2017 led a $77m loan that currently is secured by four bulkers.

Danish Ship Finance says its business is confined to lending from its lone office in Copenhagen. It does not have a US broker-dealer license that would enable it to take part in capital-markets deals.

Some experts have said continued bank lending to even top shipping names at relatively low margins between 200 and 350 basis points (bps) above the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) may not adequately account for the sector’s risk level.

Banks concede that fees generated from those owners from other activities such as capital-markets work, advisory services, deposits and derivatives can make lower margins more palatable.

GoodBulk has been able to win lower loan margins as it has progressed in its life on the Oslo over-the-counter market.

The first ABN Amro loan for $60m in March 2017 came at 325 bps over Libor. The second for $85m in December has a two-tiered rate structure at either 260 bps or 285 bps.

The Credit Suisse facility was priced at 345 bps, while the Danish Ship Finance loan three months later came at 255 bps.

GoodBulk first made a quiet filing for the US IPO on 6 April. Last week’s prospectus was the first public version, with IPO marketing likely to step out this month. No price expectations have been disclosed.