Bear Stearns Co Inc News

Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC, announced the appointment of Elliott Etheredge as Managing Director and head of the firm's Marine Transportation Investment Banking group. Etheredge is one of several recent executive hires by Dahlman Rose, as the firm continues to strengthen its investment banking, sales and trading, and research capabilities. "Dahlman Rose has made a commitment to our clients to be there for them in good times and tough times. With this challenging credit environment, we believe equity capital and creative solutions for financing needs are at the forefront," said Simon Rose, Chief Executive Officer at Dahlman Rose. Etheredge began his career in transportation more than 15 years ago heading logistics operations in Mexico for Intertrans Corporation and Sears, Roebuck.

United States Marine Repair, Inc. (USMR) announced that it filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its common stock. The shares will be offered by an underwriting group led by Lehman Brothers Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Credit Lyonnais Securities (USA) Inc.

Dresser-Rand Group Inc. has priced its initial public offering of 27,000,000 shares of common stock at $21.00 per share. All of the shares are being offered by Dresser-Rand Group Inc. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are serving as joint book-running managers of the offering. UBS Securities LLC is co-lead manager of the offering, and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Lehman Brothers Inc., Natexis Bleichroeder Inc., Simmons & Company International and Howard Weil Incorporated are co-managers of the offering. Dresser-Rand Group Inc. has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 4,050,000 shares at the public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any.

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. has agreed to acquire a double hull Suezmax vessel of 157,332 dwt built in Korea in 1998, for a price of $69 million. The vessel is expected to be delivered from the seller to the Company in early April 2006. This acquisition will increase the NAT fleet to 9 vessels with an aggregate capacity of 1,383,491 dwt. The vessel is expected to be employed in the spot market, thus increasing the number of the Company's ships in the spot market from seven to eight Suezmax tankers. The Company's remaining Suezmax is employed on a long term contract. In conjunction with this acquisition, the Company also announced today that it is commencing a public offering of 3,750,000 common shares pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement.

Anteon International Corporation, an information technology, systems integration and engineering services company, has entered into a definitive agreement for Anteon to be acquired by General Dynamics for $55.50 in cash for each outstanding Anteon share. The total value of the transaction, including General Dynamic's assumption of Anteon's debt, is expected to be approximately $2.2 billion at closing. Anteon expects the transaction to close by the end of the second quarter in 2006. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of each company and is subject to approval by Anteon shareholders, customary regulatory reviews and other closing conditions contained in the transaction agreement.

Diana Shipping Inc. announced the completion of its follow-on offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock priced at $13.50 per share. Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC are the joint global coordinators and joint book-running managers for the offering. In connection with the offering, the underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of the Company's common stock to cover any over-allotments.

Diana Shipping Inc. announces the completion of its follow-on offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock priced at $9.50 per share. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC are the joint global coordinators and joint book-running managers for the offering. In connection with the offering, the underwriters have been granted a 30- day option to purchase up to 1,050,000 additional shares of the Company's common stock to cover any over-allotments.