Nordea News

Swedbank has signed the Poseidon Principles, a global framework for integrating climate considerations into lending decisions within ship financeThe Poseidon Principles provide a standardised methodology for data collection and reporting of emissions from banks’ shipping portfolios, with the overall ambition of supporting and facilitating the decarbonization of the shipping industry.The Poseidon Principles are consistent with the policies and ambitions of the IMO, including its…

With the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s financial muscle is beyond question. Howev-er, at a corporate level, the country’s capital markets offer a range of benefits to overseas companies seeking equity, debt … or both. Øivind Amundsen is CEO of Oslo Børs and, as you would expect, a strong advocate of the Norwegian capital as a place to raise money for marine-related projects. The diverse nature of the companies which are listed on the Børs, part of Europe’s largest stock exchange group…

Offshore wind vessel company Edda Wind, owned by Wilhelmsen and Østensjø, on Monday announced plan to launch an offering of shares in the company and to apply for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange (the “IPO”).Based in Haugesund, Norway, Edda Wind develops, builds, owns, and operates purpose-built Service Operation Vessels (“SOV”) and Commissioning Service Operation Vessels (“CSOV”) for offshore wind farms.The company owns and operates two purpose-built offshore wind SOVs and…

Glamox said that Rune Marthinussen,CEO & President, plans to retire from the company next year, and that the Board of Directors has appointed Astrid Simonsen Joos to succeed him as CEO. The change takes effect August 1, 2022, and Marthinussen has agreed to support Astrid full time until December 31, 2022. Astrid Simonsen Joos most recently served as Global Chief Digital Officer and Head of Transformation of Signify (previously Philips Lighting). She has throughout her career had roles in the software industry and within digital business developments through numerous management positions at Microsoft and the position as CEO of a digital agency (Creuna). Astrid Simonsen Joos also currently serves on the boards of Telenor and Nordea Invest.

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Siem Offshore has named a replacement for its departing CFO Dagfinn B Lie.Two weeks ago, Siem Offshore said that Dagfinn B Lie would resign as CFO in the company, but it didn't at the time say who would be the next CFO.However, on Wednesday, July 14, Siem Offshoresaid Vidar Jerstad would be its CFO effective from of August 1, 2021. He will also be a member of the Management Team in Siem Offshore from the same date.Jerstad has been employed as Finance Director in Siem Offshore since 2017."He has extensive experience from various positions in finance area in Nordea and he will be an excellent contribution to our company as our new CFO…

Integrated Wind Solutions, a newly formed offshore wind service company owned by Norway's Awilhelmsen investment group, is eyeing a private placement of new shares in the company in connection with a listing on Euronext Growth Oslo, aiming to raise up to $89 million.Integrated Wind Solutions describes itself as a company that aims to be a leading offshore wind service player by integrating service operation vessels with engineering and manpower services in the windfarm’s construction and operations phase.

TORM said on Monday it has entered into an agreement to purchase eight MR product tankers with chemical trading capabilities from TEAM Tankers in a partly share-based transaction.The deal, which includes a total cash consideration of $82.5 million and the issuance of 5.97 million shares, will increase TORM’s total fleet to 83 vessels.The eight vessels are all built at the Croatian shipyard Brodotrogir from 2007 through 2012, and six of them have specialized cargo tank configurations and extended tank segregations (IMO 2), allowing for enhanced trading flexibility through chemical trading options, while still being able to work integrated in the existing One TORM operational platform.The vessels are:TEAM Amorina (2012-built…

Many of the world’s biggest lenders to shipping companies fell short of carbon-cutting targets last year in the first analysis of CO2 goals for the sector by financiers, a report showed on Wednesday.Global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions and the industry is under pressure to reduce those emissions and other pollution. About 90% of world trade is transported by sea.Last year, a group of leading banks signed up to environmental commitments known as the Poseidon Principles…

Offshore energy and marine consultancy AqualisBraemar will acquire marine and engineering consulting firm LOC Group (London Offshore Consultants).Oslo-listed group AqualisBraemar, which offers consultancy services to the offshore energy industries, said Monday that the acquisition would create "a leading global independent offshore energy and marine consultancy."David Wells, CEO of AqualisBraemar, said: "Our strategy is clear; we want to grow through continued expansion in the rapidly growing offshore renewables industry…

Athens-based shipowner Performance Shipping said it reached a deal to purchase the Kalamas, a 105,400 dwt Aframax tanker built in 2011 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering Co. Ltd, Japan, from an unaffiliated third party seller for a total purchase price of $22 million. The vessel, the company’s fifth Aframax tanker, is expected to be delivered between November 15 and December 22, 2020, and will be renamed P. Yanbu.Upon delivery of the Kalamas, the cargo-carrying capacity of the company’s fleet will have increased by 23.9% to approximately 546,094 deadweight tons (dwt). The M/T Kalamas was built to high specification and has been retrofitted with a ballast water treatment system (BWTS), in compliance with the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention.

Dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group said Monday that Per Heiberg, Chief Financial Officer of Golden Ocean Management AS, had resigned.Heiberg has held the CFO since April 2016 and has worked for the company in various capacities since July 2005.Oslo-listed Golden Ocean, which owns or controls a fleet of 78 dry bulk carriers, has appointed Peder Simonsen as the new CFO of Golden Ocean Management AS. Simonsen was most recently the Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Avance Gas AS, a company specializing in very large gas carriers.Before joining Avance Gas AS in 2014, he was First Vice President at Nordea Bank Norge ASA, where he worked with large shipping and offshore companies.

Norwegian shipping company Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) said it has secured a $60 million sustainability-linked term loan and revolving credit facility for the financing of the seventh and eighth CLEANBU vessels with delivery in 2021, reportedly a first within the maritime industry. Nordea is acting as coordinator and bookrunner and Credit Agricole CIB as sustainability agent.The credit margin will be adjusted, up or down, based on KCC’s sustainability performance, as…

With the signing by the France-based international lender to global shipping BNP Paribas and the Swiss multinational investment bank Credit Suisse, Signatories of the Poseidon Principles represent around $140 billion in loans to international shipping – about 30% of the total global ship finance portfolio.Poseidon Principles is a global framework for responsible ship finance which helps incentivize shipping’s decarbonization.They establish a common framework to quantitatively assess and disclose whether financial institutions’ lending portfolios are in line with climate goals set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized…

Denmark-based product tanker company TORM has obtained a commitment for a total of USD 496 million from a syndicate of lenders to refinance its debt and bolster its capital structure.The carrier of refined oil products said the total amount is a combination of two separate term facilities and a revolving credit facility, which will be used to refinance the company’s debt covering a total of USD 502 million.Following the refinancing, TORM does not have any major debt maturities until 2026 which supports TORM’s strong capital structure, it said.“I am very pleased that we have been able to utilize TORM’s strong relationship with our lenders to remove all major near- and medium-term debt maturities with the financing of USD 496m in debt facilities at attractive terms.

BW Offshore, a provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry, has successfully completed a NOK 900 million senior unsecured bond issue with a coupon of three months NIBOR + 4.50% and maturity in December 2023.The Oslo Stock Exchange-listed company said that the settlement of the new bond issue is scheduled for 4 December 2019.The existing NOK bonds have either been repurchased as part of the offering or will be called with settlement mid-January 2020.In combination with the USD 297.4 million convertible bond issue announced on 5 November 2019, the new bond successfully concludes the company’s refinancing of its existing NOK bonds maturing between 2020 and 2022…

Exmar Netherlands,  a fully owned subsidiary of Belgium’s Exmar and a manager of specialized floating assets, has completed the bond repayment issued in 2014, extended in July 2017 and maturing in July 2019.According to a press note from the Nicolas Saverys-led shipowner,  the outstanding senior unsecured bond was issued in 2014.This repayment has been funded partially with the new, unsecured NOK 650 million ($75 million) bond issued by Exmar on May 16, 2019, with final maturity in May 2022, and partially with own resources, the company said in its statement.Exmar Netherlands had completed the unsecured bond with a coupon of 3 months NIBOR plus 8.75% p.a.

A group of leading banks will for the first time include efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their decision making when providing shipping company loans, executives said on Tuesday.International shipping accounts for 2.2% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), has a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050.Working with non-profit organisations the Global Maritime Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute and London University's UCL Energy Institute…

Eleven banks with a combined shipping finance portfolio of $100bn will for the first time integrate climate considerations into lending decisions to incentivize maritime shipping's decarbonization.Named 'the Poseidon Principles', the new rules are a global framework for assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of financial institutions' shipping portfolios, said joint press release from Rocky Mountain Institute, Global Maritime Forum and UCL Energy Institute.Founding Signatories include Citi, Societe Generale, DNB, ABN Amro, Amsterdam Trade Bank, Credit Agricole CIB, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank, DVB, ING and Nordea, and represent around 20% of the global ship finance portfolio."As banks…

Swedish energy company Vattenfall has issued a EUR500mln green bond, its first such issuance, with the proceeds earmarked for a number of projects, including renewables.The bond with a tenor of seven years is offering investors the chance to “support the transformation of the energy system”.The proceeds from the bond issue are earmarked for projects defined in Vattenfall's green bond framework, with four categories: renewable energy and related infrastructure, energy efficiency, electrification of transport and heat, and industrial projects.The framework has been reviewed by Cicero and given their highest rating, “Dark Green”. Citi, Deutsche Bank…

Nordea Bank aims to increase shipping finance activities to the growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, executives at one of the world's biggest shipping financiers said.China's crackdown on pollution and its growing demand for more environmentally friendly sources of power, such as LNG, are boosting demand for ships to transport the fuel."We would like to expand the portfolio and there are certain segments that we would like to expand in. One of them is on the LNG side…

Connecticut-headquartered Eagle Bulk Shipping said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Eagle Bulk Ultraco has received a loan commitment from a consortium of banks for a new five year senior secured facility totaling approximately $208 million.According to the company, the Facility will include a term loan equating to approximately $153 million and a revolving credit facility of $55 million, and will be used to refinance the existing debt of Eagle Bulk Ultraco LLC and Eagle Shipping, as well as for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers.Upon the closing of the transaction and the repayment in full of the Refinanced Debt…

American shipowner Eagle Bulk Shipping  has announced that Eagle Bulk Ultraco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has closed on a new five-year senior secured facility  totaling USD 208.4 million, maturing in 2024. The global transporter of drybulk commodities said that the Facility is secured by 21 vessels, including the M/V Cape Town Eagle which was acquired earlier this month, and includes a term loan of USD 153.4 million and a revolving credit facility of USD 55 million.Gary Vogel, Eagle’s CEO, said: “We are very pleased that the Company continues to secure increasingly attractive debt financing and has increased its financial flexibility in the process.

Norwegian offshore oil and gas consultancy and services companies First Geo (owned by Akastor), and AGR Bidco are set to merge."Akastor AS (Akastor), has entered into agreements with Silverfleet Capital, DNB Bank ASA and Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Norge (together the AGR stakeholders) to combine AGR Bidco AS (AGR) with First Geo AS," said a press statement.The Transaction will be carried out primarily as an asset deal, whereby assets in the current AGR legal structure and three legal entities will, together with First Geo, be transferred to a new legal structure, which in turn will be transferred to Akastor to establish the merged company.The merged company will be named AGR. Akastor will hold 100% of the shares in the company and 55% of the economic interest.