Athens: George Economou-led Tankships Investment Holdings says it aims to raise $150m in its initial public offering (IPO), $50m more than the target included in previous filings.
Tankships’ IPO was first mooted last month. The new figure was published on Friday in a revised IPO prospectus with the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
The company is a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed DryShips, of which George Economou is chief executive. Economou intends to purchase $30m of shares in Tankships, which is to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol TNKS.
The Marshall Islands-incorporated company is principally involved in the transport of crude oil, its prospectus says. Tankships’ existing fleet comprises 10 dirty tankers, of which six are aframaxes and four are suezmaxes.
The company is also awaiting the delivery of three suezmax newbuildings it acquired for $209m from TMS Tankers, which is also part of the Economou group. The eco-type vessels are scheduled to arrive between March 1 and April 30.
Tankships says its vessel employment strategy will be “to utilise voyage charter direct spot market exposure. Direct spot exposure enables us to benefit from upswings in the tanker market”. Although rates remain volatile, spot rates for suezmaxes and aframaxes have been trending upwards since October 2014.
“Although the spot market has been historically volatile with periods of low charter rates often lasting multiple years, we believe the spot market has delivered the highest returns on average over time,” Tankships said.
Should market fundamentals change, Tankships says its back-up plan will be to operate its vessels on fixed-rate timecharters.
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