DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS), a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes and off-shore contract drilling oil services, announced the completion of the ATM Equity Offering in which the company raised gross proceeds of approximately $475m since commencing the offering pursuant to the prospectus supplement filed on May 7 2009. Merrill Lynch & Co. acted as sales agent in the offering. Following the completion of the program, the Company has approximately 257,645,000 common shares outstanding.
George Economou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented, “We have successfully completed our latest $475 million equity offering in market conditions where many established companies are struggling to raise capital. The liquidity of DryShip’s provides us with an unparalled ability to tap the capital markets. We would like to thank Merrill Lynch & Co. for their assistance. So far in 2009 we have raised almost $1 billion of equity, cancelled $2 billion of CAPEX, repaid over $600 million of debt and obtained bank waivers for a substantial portion of our outstanding debt. We continue to work tirelessly to obtain the rest of the waivers and examine all alternatives to further strengthen the balance sheet of the company. DryShips is now in a position to take advantage of any opportunities to grow the company.”
(www.dryships.com)