Warrant scheme raises $168m for Navios Acquisition VLCC swoop
Navios Maritime Acquisition meets its target to finance the purchase of a fleet of seven very large crude carriers
NAVIOS Maritime Acquisition, the recently activated company that has taken the Navios brand into the tanker trades, has met its target in a warrant programme intended to finance the purchase of a fleet of seven very large crude carriers.
A five-day extension granted last week, when only half of the necessary number of warrants had been tendered, appears to have done the trick, with preliminary results announced by the company showing 76.2% of more than 19m outstanding public warrants were exercised.
Navios Acquisition said it expects to raise $90.1m from the exercise of the public warrants and a further $78.3m from exercise of private warrants held by Navios Holdings and Angeliki Frangou, chairman and chief executive of all three Navios listed companies.
About 18.4m new shares of common stock will be issued as a result of the programme.
Holders had been given the opportunity to exercise their warrants on enhanced terms either cashlessly or by payment of a $5.65 cash exercise price.
“We have recapitalised Navios Acquisition,” said Ms Frangou. “Warrants now represent only about 15% of our new equity capital. With our new capital structure, we can focus on positioning Navios Acquisition to take advantage of opportunities,” she said.
If the offer had fallen short, Navios Acquisition had said it would seek alternative financing from Navios Holdings or, if available, from third parties, to fund the purchase price for the seven VLCCs.
The ships are to be acquired for $587m from Vanship Holdings, the joint venture founded by Fred Cheng and the late Charles Vanderperre, and the transaction is expected to close within September.
The move completes a $1bn tanker fleet for Navios Acquisition, following its swoop for 13 chemical and product tankers in a slew of deals that transformed it from a special purpose acquisition company to an operative entity earlier this year.
Navios has said it intends paying for the tankers with $123m in cash and $11m in stock, plus bank debt.
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