27/01/2009Heavy lift shipping company Fairstar has successfully arranged for an underwritten equity issue of up to NOK75 million to secure sufficient liquidity to redeem all outstanding bonds no later than October 2009.

Redemption of the bonds will be possible through cash flows generated by current contracts and the company's banking facilities, a company statement said.

The Fairstar board of directors is set to call an Extraordinary General Meeting in February to approve the transaction.The transaction structure is an innovative combination of a share capital increase in the form of a rights issue of up to 10 million new shares each with a nominal value of EUR 0.46, with pre-emption rights for shareholders at a subscription price of NOK 5.0 (Tranche A) and a directed share issue of up to 4.1 million new shares each with a nominal value of EUR 0.46, for the owners of the Fairstar Heavy Transport Secured Bond Issue 2008/2009 at a subscription price of NOK 6.0 (Tranche B).

A syndicate of the company's current shareholders has underwritten 5.3 million new shares in Tranche A and a syndicate of the company's current bondholders has underwritten 3.8 million new shares in Tranche B. NOK 51 million of the offering is fully underwritten. The additional NOK 24 million is not underwritten. All of the company's eligible shareholders and bondholders will be offered pro-rata subscription rights.

For more information about Fairstar and its operations, read the article in the next edition of HLPFI which will hit subscribers desks early next week.