Swedish shipping giant Stena AB is testing the water for a bond issue in a hot debt market.
The company has been meeting investors to gauge interest in a sale of notes maturing over five to eight years.
The private group, one of the largest companies in Sweden, said bonds could be sold in euros or US dollars, subject to market conditions.
Any proceeds would used to redeem existing senior secured notes due 2025.
Stena is listed with a €315m series of 2025 bonds paying a coupon of 3.75%.
The company expects to repay a $527m January 2024 bond costing 7% in interest through its available resources, however.
Stena has not revealed a target amount for the new bond.
Shipowners like Bonheur, Klaveness Combinations Carriers, Stolt-Nielsen and Wallenius Wilhelmsen have been busy selling bonds in Oslo over the last few weeks.
Stena logged lower profit for the second quarter as interest expenses jumped.
Net earnings to 30 June were SEK 386m ($34.8m) against SEK 569m in the same period of 2022.
Liquidity stood at SEK 24bn.
2024 bond removed
In February, Stena used some of its huge cash reserves to remove a March 2024 bond maturity.
The company said its Luxembourg-based subsidiary Stena International carried out a tender to buy back a $350m issue with a coupon of 5.75%.
Stena has a five-year €515m multicurrency revolving credit facility available, plus a $100m standby facility.
Both date from December 2022, with maturity in December 2027.
