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Merrill News

10 Feb 2023

Marco Santoro Takes Over as CEO at RMK Merrill-Stevens

Marco Santoro (Photo: RMK Merrill-Stevens)

Industry veteran Marco Santoro has taken the helm as chief executive officer at Miami yacht repair yard RMK Merrill-Stevens.A naval architect and marine engineer, Santoro began his career in yachting as part of the technical department at Italy's Rodriquez Yachts. In 2003, he joined Italian yacht builder the Ferretti Group as an intern in the after sales and service department, and over the course of 20 years worked his way up through a number of leadership roles, culminating as the company's vice president of refit and retail works. “My journey in this company was amazing.

15 Jun 2021

Odyssey Marine Exploration Appoints Jones as CFO

U.S.-based subsea mining company Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. announced it has expanded its executive and legal teams. On Monday, the firm's Board of Directors appointed Christopher "Chris" E. Jones as Chief Financial Officer and reappointed Jay Nudi as the company’s Principal Accounting Officer and Treasurer.“As we evaluated our strategic plans and every part of our business over the past year, it became clear that we needed to add specific expertise to our executive team to allow Odyssey to execute on its strategic plan,” commented Mark D. Gordon, Chairman and CEO of Odyssey. “Chris brings extensive experience in international business development


03 Sep 2020

Miami Shipyard RMK Merrill-Stevens to Hire 75 Staff

(Photo: RMK Merrill-Stevens)

Miami shipyard RMK Merrill-Stevens says it is hiring 75 new employees over the next two months to staff its newly renovated North Yard and South Yard. The hiring campaign follows years full of updates after Rahmi M. Koç, a Turkish philanthropist, purchased the shipyard in 2013 while committing to restore the yard to its former glory. RMK Merrill-Stevens is known as the first shipyard in Florida and is now one of the most updated and capable shipyards in the region.RMK Merrill-Stevens provides yacht service


23 Jul 2020

New CEO Takes the Helm at RMK Merrill-Stevens Shipyard

William Clewes (Photo: RMK Merrill-Stevens)

Industry veteran William Clewes has been appointed CEO of Miami yacht repair yard RMK Merrill-Stevens, charged with leading Florida's oldest shipyard through a period or redevelopment, reopening and beyond.“I am excited about building a team and a new facility to bring the RMK Merrill-Stevens facility back to its former glory and beyond,” said Clewes in January after accepting the position. Clewes will lead the North and South yards, which straddle the Miami River, the ongoing redevelopment of both


18 Sep 2019

IPO Expected for Italian Yacht-Maker Sanlorenzo

Italian motor yacht maker Sanlorenzo aims to list on the Milan Stock Exchange at about the same time as the rival Ferretti Group, with an initial public offering (IPO) expected to be launched as early as the second half of October, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The group is controlled by Italian entrepreneur Massimo Perotti through a family holding which bought back shares from third party investors in the recent years.The group plans to issue a mix of existing and new shares, targeting a free float of about 35%, one of the sources added.Sanlorenzo has picked Unicredit, Banca Imi and Bofa Merrill Lynch as global coordinators for its IPO.

18 Dec 2018

Ardmore Shipping Appoints Curtis McWilliams as Chairman

The US-based chemical tanker company  Ardmore Shipping Corporation announced that Reginald L. Jones is stepping down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company effective December 31, 2018. Curtis McWilliams has been appointed as Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2019, said a stock exchange announcement from the company.Jones will remain as a director until the Company's annual general meeting in 2019, when he does not intend to stand for re-election. He is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Greenbriar Equity Group LLC, Ardmore's initial investor in 2010 which exited its position in Ardmore as part of the monetization of its Fund II in November 2017. McWilliams became a director of Ardmore in January 2016.

17 Jun 2018

Navios Maritime Containers files for a $100 million IPO

Monaco-based container ship company Navios Maritime Containers has filed with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The information of IPO was originally provided by the IPO investment manager Renaissance Capital. The Navios Holdings company run by Angeliki Frangou was founded in 2017 and booked $69 million in sales for the 12 months ended March 31, 2018. According to the company website: "We are a growth-oriented international owner and operator of containerships. We were formed in April 2017 by Navios Holdings, which owns, operates or manages one of the largest shipping fleets by capacity, to take advantage of acquisition and chartering opportunities in the container shipping sector. It plans to list on the Nasdaq but has not disclosed a symbol. J.P.

21 May 2018

RMK Merrill-Stevens Adds Boat Hoist

Photo: Marine Travelift

Marine Travelift has recently partnered with RMK Merrill-Stevens for the delivery of a new 100 BFMII (100 metric ton lifting capacity) mobile boat hoist.The custom 100-ton machine will be operational later this summer and will join an older 70 ton Marine Travelift on site, expanding the capacity and versatility of the Miami shipyard as part of their ongoing modernization efforts.RMK Merrill-Stevens is a full-service yacht repair facility performing repair and refit of yachts, commercial craft and government vessels ranging from 30’ to 300’.

26 Oct 2017

Marine Finance for Brown Water Operators

© Merek / Adobe Stock

A primer for navigating the ‘ups and downs’ of marine money for domestic stakeholders. Vessel financiers are resourceful and adaptable to changing markets. On the domestic side, financiers of Jones Act and “brown water” assets have continued to serve their customers through shifting shoals in both broader capital markets and in the marine markets – both known for their ups and downs. Marine finance can take many forms. In the broadest sense, funding can be done through loans, where the vessel is owned by the borrower


04 Oct 2017

Vitol Returns for $8 Bln Loan Refinancing

Geneva-headquartered energy and commodities trader Vitol has signed an US$8bn loan refinancing of credit facilities agreed in October 2016, the company announced on Wednesday. The revolving credit facility, which is used for working capital and general corporate purposes, comprises a three-year tranche and a 364-day tranche. The three-year tranche totals over US$7bn. ABN AMRO Bank, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC Bank and ING Bank were active bookrunners on the transaction. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, MUFG, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered Bank, SMBC and UniCredit Bank were mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

27 Mar 2017

Coalition Urges Congress to Address Asian Carp in the Great Lakes

© Dale Stagg / Adobe Stock

A coalition of maritime business and industry organizations sent a letter to key Members of Congress on Friday, March 24 urging funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to further support efforts undertaken by the State of Illinois to slow, stop and reverse the migration of Asian carp, an aquatic invasive species, through cost-effective measures. In the letter, the UnLock Our Jobs (UOJ) coalition members review the record of success that the GLRI has had in working with the State of Illinois to develop a range of strategies to control Asian carp


18 Jan 2017

Oil and Trump: Russians Full of Optimism in Davos

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, the mood of the Russian delegation at the World Economic Forum in Davos was distinctly gloomy, with oil prices near 12-year lows below $30 per barrel and Western sanctions depressing their economy and financial markets. Since then, however, Russian stock and bond markets have risen about 50 percent, boosted by rebounding oil and - more recently - expectations the new U.S. presidency of Donald Trump will ease the sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Russian officials and company executives at the forum attended by the world's political and business elites in the Swiss Alps this week were far more bullish, with many predicting the markets rally would continue this year.

21 Dec 2016

RBS Near to Selling $600 Mln of Shipping Loans

Royal Bank of Scotland is close to selling at least $600 million worth of shipping loans from its portfolio, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. RBS, which is more than 70 percent state-owned, is still in the throes of a restructuring, which includes asset sales, job cuts and tackling multi-billion dollar charges to settle litigation and pay regulatory fines for past misconduct. The sources said buyers of the various shipping loan tranches included Japanese financial services firm Orix Corp , Germany's Berenberg Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and asset manager Davidson Kempner. Bank of America and Berenberg declined to comment. Orix could not be reached for comment. Davidson Kempner and RBS declined to comment.

02 Dec 2016

World's Largest Single-deck Log Ship Calls Tacoma

Photo: The Northwest Seaport Alliance

The world’s largest single-deck bulk/log carrier, Olive Bay, arrived Thursday at The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s West Hylebos log terminal in Tacoma. The terminal, operated by Seattle-based Merrill & Ring Forest Products, welcomed Pacific Basin Shipping’s Olive Bay, the largest ship in the Chinese log business to call the West Coast. Built in 2015 specifically to carry logs, the ship is 190 meters long and 32 meters wide. It can hold up to 8 million board-feet of logs, which is significantly more than the 5 million-board-foot capacity of most log ships to call Tacoma.

03 May 2016

Crowley Acquires Ace Fuels Assets in Anchorage

Anchorage-based Crowley Fuels yesterday completed an asset acquisition of the aviation fuels business of Ace Fuels, LLC, a fixed base operator (FBO) headquartered at Merrill Field in downtown Anchorage offering Jet A and AV 100LL fuels. The acquisition includes the company’s six, 24-hour self-service aviation fuels pump stations (cardlocks) and associated buildings located at the Merrill Field Strip, Merrill Field Main Airport, Willow Airport, Wasilla Airport, Lake Hood Strip and Fairbanks International Airport. “Congratulations to the entire team on completing this acquisition of two like-minded, privately-owned and operated businesses,” said Rocky Smith, senior vice president and general manager.

21 Feb 2016

Bulk shippers hit by perfect storm as global economic doldrums take toll

Off the coast of a nearly deserted island below the southern tip of Hong Kong, at least 10 massive ships that normally carry hundreds of thousands of tons of coal or iron ore lie idle near one of the world's busiest sea routes. These empty vessels paint a grim picture for the dry bulk shipping business that veterans of the industry say is grappling with an unprecedented crisis of too many ships and not enough cargoes. The hollow boats underscore the global economic doldrums that policymakers are struggling to overcome. "This is the worst we have seen in recent times. We have been hit by a perfect storm - huge order books, China slowdown


19 Feb 2016

US Oil Rig Count Lowest Since Dec 2009

The number of oil rigs in the United fell for a ninth straight week to the lowest level since December 2009, data showed on Friday, as energy firms continued to cut spending amid the collapse in crude prices. Drillers cut 26 rigs in the week ended Feb. 19, bringing the total rig oil count to 413, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. The number of oil rigs in operation were less than a third of the 1,536 in service during the same week a year ago. Oil has shed 70 percent from highs above $100 a barrel in a selloff that has seen little pause over the past 20 months, forcing a collapse in the rig count as well. Since last Friday though, some traders believed the market had seen a bottom on talk that OPEC was on a plan to reign in production.

07 Jan 2016

Oil Options Lurch Closer to $20 Goldman Doomsday Forecast

When U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs said last year that oil could fall as low as $20 per barrel, it assigned a fairly low probability to that scenario. Fast-forward five months and in some parts of the world the forecast has already proved correct. Canadian physical crude has been selling this week at below $20 per barrel, less than it costs to extract and transport. Traders in the options market, meanwhile, are taking protection against prices falling below $25. The developments reflect growing concerns that a market already awash in too much oil is now suffering the double-whammy of a sharp slowdown in U.S. and Chinese demand.

12 Nov 2015

ACL Acquires AEP River Operations

Mark Knoy (Photo: American Commercial Lines)

Marine transportation service company American Commercial Lines (ACL) announced it has acquired commercial inland barge company AEP River Operations from American Electric Power (AEP). AEP River Operations is based in Chesterfield, Mo., with operations in Paducah, Ky.; and Convent, Algiers and Belle Chasse, La., and delivers approximately 45 million tons of products annually. Mark Knoy, president and CEO of Jeffersonville, Ind. based ACL, had previously run AEP River Operations for a decade before joining ACL in 2011.

09 Oct 2015

Zim plans Wall Street IPO

Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services has hired two banks to carry out its initial public offering (IPO) in the US, Bloomberg reported. Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd has hired Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and Barclays Plc to lead a New York IPO, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, says the report. The IPO is planned for the first half of 2016. The shipping company, controlled by billionaire Idan Ofer’s Kenon Holdings Ltd., is planning to list shares by the first half of next year, the people told "Bloomberg", asking not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. “Zim has been contemplating going public and other financing options since 2007,” Maor Aharoni, a spokesman for the company, was quoted saying. “This strategy has not changed.

28 Aug 2015

Oil Plunge Deepens High-yield Gloom

US crude fell to a more than six-year low this week, clouding the picture for a high-yield energy sector that already faces a significant cull when credit lines are reevaluated in autumn. Lower-quality names, especially in exploration and production, are already struggling to stay afloat, and with crude dipping below US$38 per barrel, a bad scenario has got worse. According to CreditSights, E&P companies typically obtain credit lines worth around 55%-65% of the estimated value of their reserves, which is redetermined by banks semi-annually. Since the last one in spring, US crude prices have fallen by nearly a third - meaning many companies now face steep cuts to the amount they can borrow. Many are likely to default, and some could well go under.

23 Jun 2015

Ecopetrol Breaks Silence in Risk-on Day for LatAm Markets

A recovery in LatAm debt spreads opened a window for Colombia's Ecopetrol on Tuesday when it printed a US$1.5bn 11-year bond - the state-owned oil company's first debt issue in nine months. Optimism over Greek debt talks spurred risk buying on Tuesday, leaving LatAm debt spreads tightening against a weaker US Treasury market, and also benefiting the oil credit that has received a battering in secondary this year. "We are trading well today and are tighter across most credit spreads," said a New York based trader focused on Latin American credits. Even with Heinz's jumbo US$10bn multi-tranche deal in the US high-grade market, Ecopetrol came on a relatively quiet day in the primary market, leaving the runway open for the Colombian borrower.

28 May 2015

Lifting of US Crude Oil Export Ban Possible within Year

The U.S. Congress could lift the 40-year old ban on domestic crude oil exports within a year as a drop in gasoline prices and the potential return of Iranian oil to global markets makes it an easier measure for politicians to support, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said on Thursday. U.S. gasoline prices have dropped since last year along with global crude prices, thanks to strong crude output from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. On Thursday, the U.S. average for regular gasoline at the pump was nearly $2.74 a gallon, down from $3.65 a year ago, according to the AAA motorist club. If that remains the case, it has the potential to allay politicians' fears that they could be blamed any rise in gasoline prices if the crude oil export ban was lifted.

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