Prosafe completes massive shares placement as part of refinancing strategy

Prosafe today confirmed it had completed a massive private placement of new shares as part of its latest financial shake-up.
The subscription is part of the company’s refinancing strategy.

“The private placement of minimum $130million and maximum $150million, conducted as an accelerated book-building with preferred allocation for shareholders and bondholders, was fully subscribed,” a spokesperson said.

The new shares will be issued at a subscription price per share of NOK0.25.

The board will also look to carry out a subsequent offering to existing eligible shareholders of up to $15million, according the spokesperson.

Prosafe’s refinancing also includes an agreement with Cosco to defer its repayment of the $29 million seller’s credit to final quarter of 2019.

Refinancing will provide “greater financial flexibility for the company throughout the period until the end of 2020 including a solid liquidity buffer to weather a prolonged market downturn”.

A statement read: “The combined effect of the refinancing, as further described below, is expected to improve the company’s liquidity by approximately $478million over a five year period, and reduce the net interest bearing debt by approximately $395million through 100% conversion of senior unsecured bonds, in addition to the contribution of new equity.

“At the end of 2020, the company will continue to have a strong global competitive position, with a large modern fleet of accommodation vessels to service its worldwide operations.”

Prosafe is the owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company operates globally and is headquartered in Larnaca, Cyprus. Prosafe is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS.