NAT Announces Public Offering of USD 100mln
Nordic American Tankers (NAT) announced an underwritten public offering of $100 million of its common shares pursuant to the Company’s effective shelf registration statement.
At the Company’s request, the underwriters have reserved for sale an aggregate of approximately $1.2 million of its common shares for certain members of the Company’s board of directors, management and advisors, which includes approximately $1.0 million to be purchased by the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and his immediate family.
The Company also intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the offering.
On December 1, 2017 NAT established a sale/leaseback arrangement for the three newbuilds to be delivered in 2018. The well known Aker Group of Norway (via 66.2% owned Ocean Yield) is behind this arrangement. The major Scandinavian banks, DnB of Norway and SEB of Sweden have established important guarantee provisions related to the recapitalization of NAT.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering, together with proceeds from recapitalization transactions, primarily to repay outstanding amounts under its current credit facility, finance the expansion of its fleet and for general corporate purposes.
The common shares purchased by the underwriters are expected to be offered for resale from time to time in negotiated transactions or otherwise, at market prices on the New York Stock Exchange prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices or otherwise. On December 11, 2017, the closing price of the Company’s common shares on the New York Stock Exchange was $3.66 per share.
Morgan Stanley, Clarksons Platou Securities, Inc., DNB Markets, Inc., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) and Seaport Global Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
