Eagle Bulk Shipping, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Eagle Bulk Shipco and Eagle Shipping LLC, has entered into a series of refinancing transactions, including the repayment in full of Eagle Shipping’s outstanding first and second lien credit facilities, each dated as of March 30, 2016.
As a result of these transactions, the company has extended the maturities of the outstanding debt of its subsidiaries through 2022 and achieved additional financial flexibility with respect to its free cash flow.
"The successful refinancing of our balance sheet on favorable terms is a strong endorsement by our lenders and the capital markets of the company’s business model andvalidates the actions that we have taken over the last two years to reposition Eagle Bulk as the leading active owner-operator of Supramax/Ultramax vessels," said Gary Vogel, Eagle Bulk's CEO. "Through this process, we have also created the financial flexibility to pursue accretive opportunities and explore other ways to return value to our shareholders."
Frank De Costanzo, Eagle Bulk’s CFO, said, “These refinancing transactions include immediate benefits, including a reduction in our cost of capital, the removal of an expensive note bearing an interest rate of approximately 15 percent, and the elimination of any near-term refinancing risk while simultaneously reducing our exposure to rising interest rates.”
According to Eagle Bulk, other benefits associated with the refinancing transactions include the extension of tenor on all outstanding debt through 2022, payoff of the PIK note bearing a cost of approximately 15 percent, reduction of annual interest expense by approximately $2.6 million, elimination of exposure to rising interest rates on approximately 60 percent of company’s debt, facilitates the potential payment of dividends and alternate uses of cash flow, including fleet expansion.
Each of the financial transactions closed on December 8, 2017.
Additionally, net proceeds of $195 million from a previously announced offering by Eagle Shipco of senior secured bonds with a coupon of 8.25 percent due November 28, 2022 were distributed to the company upon the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent.
