Epic Gas has launched today a $60m fully underwritten capital increase with plans to buy more LPG ships. The subscription period lasts until May 13 with lead shareholder, BW Group, subscribing for its pro rata of the share issue of approximately 82.58%. BW has also underwritten the remaining portion of the share issue.
Much of the money raised will go on more Japanese tonnage. Epic Gas has entered into a letter of intent, which remains subject to financing and the execution of definitive documentation, to purchase four modern secondhand Japanese-built pressurised LPG carriers for $106.5m. New debt financing will also cover this latest acquisition for fast-growing Epic.
The acquisition of the four LPG carriers will increase Epic Gas’ total carrying capacity from 267,400 cu m to 311,400 cu m, and will also reduce the average age of the company’s fleet from 8.9 years to 8.4 years.
Charles Maltby, chairman and CEO of Epic Gas, commented: “This capital increase will allow us to pursue our ambitions to deliver incremental profitable growth and take advantage of the attractive potential of the global LPG market that we see in the period immediately ahead. By targeting modern, high quality and well priced assets, we are able to leverage on our global platform with low marginal costs, and further increase our flexible customer focused freight offerings, whilst also meeting the growing demand for LPG.“
