Americas News
General Maritime Considers NYSE Relisting From 2014
General Maritime Corp., (General Maritime) is considering taking the company public on the New York Stock Exchange again, but not until 2014 according to a report by news agency Reuters.
On May 17, 2012 the New York based tanker company emerged from Chapter 11 after 6 months, having listed assets of $1.71 billion and debt of $1.41 billion in its November 17, 2011 petition.
"We've been in and out of Chapter 11 quite early, and the market is still bad ... we're not out of the woods yet," General Maritime CFO Jeffrey Pribor told Reuters.
Mr. Pribor said he expects the shipping industry to recover in the next two years adding, "We think going public is a very sensible thing to do, to provide liquidity for equity investors in Oaktree in the future when the market turns."
U.S. based private equity firm, Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree) invested approximately $175 million as part of the restructuring, with Oaktree forwarding General Maritime a $200 million loan prior to the Chapter 11 filing.
The Oaktree loan was converted into equity when General Maritime emerged from bankruptcy giving Oaktree 98% ownership of General Maritime's stock.
In May, John Fredriksen said he predicted the current shipping crisis will last "another two or three years".
General Maritime lists its fleet as containing 32 vessels including 7 very large crude carriers (VLCCs).
