Singapore-based product tanker owner Hafnia Limited is raising US$100M in capital
The Oslo-listed company said the fundraiser is targeted at Norwegian investors and institutional investors, with an eye towards eliminating debt and strengthening its balance sheet.
Hafnia is pursuing growth and consolidation. In January the company added 44 modern tankers to its fleet – 32 chemical tankers and 12 LR1’s from Scorpio Tankers – all of which are compliant with 2023’s EEXI requirements.
Hafnia chief executive Mikael Skov said, “The fact that leading institutional investors were willing to receive Hafnia shares as payment demonstrates Hafnia’s firm foothold in the market. We have now turned to the market to optimise our capital structure in the wake of these significant transactions.”
SEB Corporate Finance, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Clarksons Platou Securities and Fearnley Securities were engaged as book-runners on the deal.
The deal comes shortly after Hafnia posted profits for Q1 2022. Time charter equivalent earnings stood at US$163M compared with US$113M for Q4 2021. EBITDA stood at US$88M.
And the company record a net profit of US$21M and earnings per share of US$0.05 for Q1 2022 compared with a net loss of US$8M and loss of US$0.02 per share in Q4 2021.
Mr Skov said, “With the expected upturn of the product tanker market, it is now a favourable time to deleverage our balance sheet to ensure we continue to be in a strong position to take advantage of market synergies and opportunities in combination with increasing the free float in the Hafnia share. We are immensely grateful to existing and new shareholders for their continued support of Hafnia.”
Modern MRs currently earn nearly US$50,000 a day according to the latest data from Clarksons. LR1 earning stood at US$50,400 last week representing a huge upturn.
