Norway's Gram Car Carriers has completed its pre-listing private placement in Oslo after attracting strong interest from investors.
The car carrier owner said the $121m deal was oversubscribed by 10 times as "high-quality" domestic and international institutions and family offices queued for stock.
Allocations to new backers and existing shareholders meant they were fighting over a remaining pot of $22m.
The deal comes after Gram’s $100m initial public offering was pulled in November due to a lack of investor interest.
The company will now list on the Euronext Growth board in Oslo on or around 31 January.
The biggest shareholder is now German shipowner F Laeisz, with 25.25% of the company. The founding Gram family had previously had a 20% holding.
The German company took the biggest chunk of the placement worth $49.7m.
The group had committed for up to $61.6m — the price of two car carriers it sold to Gram as part of the deal.
A condition of the offering was that F Laeisz ended up with the stake of at least 25.25%.
But the owner still has an option to acquire a number of new shares equal to a $5.4m tranche awarded to investment banks for managing the offering.
F Laeisz chief executive Nikolaus Schues will join the board.
Five cornerstone investors subscribed for another $37.4m.
These included Danish bulker owner J Lauritzen and the Steensland and Bunnemann shipping families.
Existing shareholders and Gram managers and directors bought $6.75m.
Company valued at $176m
The placement gives a market capitalisation of NOK 1.5bn or $176m for the company.
Proceeds will be added into a pot including existing new equity of $60m and bank borrowings of $222m to finance the transfer of the fleet from a Singapore holding company to the new listed entity.
The money will also allow Gram to buy a management company for $4m and strengthen the balance sheet through debt repayment.
The free float of the shipowner will be 50.6% if F Laeisz's option is not exercised, increasing to 53.7% if this is taken up in full.
Gram is the world's third-largest tonnage provider within pure car/truck carriers, with 18 ships.
