Cyprus Stock Exchange News

Tanker firm Stelmar Marine Holdings Ltd. officially applied on Wednesday for listing on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. The company was established in 1992 by Greek Cypriot entrepreneur Stelios Haji Ioannou and owns and operates a fleet of 12 tankers with an average age of eight years. The company is planning to raise $54.6 million through the Cyprus Stock Exchange for further expansion of the fleet. The amount will be raised through the issue of 42 million new shares of face value $1 at the flotation price of $1.30, the company said. Approximately 27 million shares will be placed with private investors and 15 million will be offered to the public.

Slovenian shipping firm Intereuropa and port operator Luka Koper canceled a planned merger because the government was demanding the right to veto any management decisions in the new firm. The two companies had planned to merge on July 1. The state owns 51 percent of Luka, while Intereuropa is privately owned. The state's equity in the new company would have been 35.7 percent. "There will be no merger under such conditions where the government would have the right to veto practically every management decision," Radovan Vrabec, Intereuropa's deputy chief executive, said. He said the two companies would be ready to continue merger talks if the government eased its demands. Vrabec said the two firms would not suffer short-term damage due to the failure of the merger.

Atteshlis Shipping clinched a deal with Poseidon Lines Shipping of Liberia to operate a ferry line in the Mediterranean under a new subsidiary, it said. The subsidiary, Poseidon Lines Holdings, will operate the Sea Harmony vessel which transports cargo on the Greece-Cyprus-Israel route. Atteshlis Shipping will pay $3 million for a 51 percent stake of the new concern, with Poseidon Lines the remaining 49 percent, Atteshlis said in a statement to the Cyprus Stock Exchange. The agreement is subject to the approval of the island's central bank since it includes the export of currency. - (Reuters)

Ocean Tankers Holdings, the only public company quoted in the ‘Shipping’ sector of the Cyprus Stock Exchange, is planning a $45m rights issue to part fund the acquisition of eight new oil tankers. A previous IPO raised $13.4m to float the company. Since then, the fleet has doubled from three to six tankers of 4,500 to 12,000 tonnes capacity, while two newbuildings are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2008. The new acquisition of eight recently-built ships with an average age of six years, will double the fleet to 16 vessels, with the new additions having a 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes capacity. The new ships, that will carry the Maltese flag, are committed to Lukoil for a ten-year charter. The purchase value is set at $284m, underwritten by ABN Amro.

Ocean Tankers Holdings PCL aims to raise about $13.38m from the initial public offering (IPO) that starts in the first such issue of a new company to list on the Cyprus Stock Exchange in two years. The company, presently privately owned by the Michael Ioannides Group and its affiliates, has a fleet of three double-hull tankers under the Cypriot and Maltese flags and the proceeds of the issue, that will reduce the principal shareholder’s stake to just below 70%, will help the company buy three or even four more ships. Ocean Tankers has applied to list in the Maritime Sector of the stock market and will take advantage of the merging of the Cyprus exchange with the Athens Stock Exchange in a unified trading platform within the next month or so in order to attract new investors.

According to Financial Mirror, Ocean Tankers Holdings Public Co. will be the first ocean-going shipping company to go public on the Cyprus Stock Exchange later this summer, after the Nicosia bourse failed to attract the flotations of three other Cypriot-owned shipping companies. Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s Stelmar, Charalambos Mylonas’ Transmed and the Mouskas family’s Zela Shipping were all companies that took a stab at the island’s exchange and gave up as the CSE authorities deliberated endlessly about the criteria for listing. The Ocean Tankers initial public offering (IPO) of approximately $15m, representing 30% of the company after the flotation…

The Cyprus Stock Exchange extended its gains Nov. 2 with a 3.4 percent climb to a new all-time record, spurred by renewed demand for tourism stocks. Disclosures that Louis Cruise Lines were mulling a share split pushed tourism stocks up 7.5 percent as investors clamored to buy shares. "Demand in the stock went through the roof," said one trader of a 6.3 million share volume in Louis, whose directors meet on Nov. 10. A possible split, rights issue and a new share issue to finance a recent acquisition of Greek-controlled Royal Olympic Cruise Lines will be on the agenda. The all-share index closed 21.87 points, or 3.46 percent higher at 654.70 on a turnover of $87.1 million. Banking stocks rose 1.31 percent to 773.20 points.