BW Pacific Pushes Ahead with Its USD 250m IPO

Oslo-listed product tanker owner and operator BW Pacific has resolved to launch the initial public offering on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Subject to approval of the listing application and successful completion of the Offering, the shares of BW Pacific are expected to be admitted to listing and commence conditional trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange on 13 November 2015.

The shares are expected to be sold at a price between NOK 44 and NOK 50 per share, corresponding to an equity value of between approximately NOK 6,879 million and NOK 7,524 million.

The IPO will comprise of up to 48,693,182 new common shares to be issued by the company to raise a fixed amount of NOK 2,142.5 million (USD 250 million), and up to 9,738,636 existing common shares to be offered by the BW Group Limited and PAG Tankers Limited.

The purpose of the IPO is to finance the company’s newbuilding program, as well as to position it for further growth by gaining access to the capital markets. A public listing would also allow the company to use its shares as transaction currency in future acquisitions and to take part in market consolidation.

“The BW Group had in the past successfully invited investors to participate in developing its subsidiaries or portfolio companies, and sees an IPO on the Oslo Stock Exchange as a natural next step in developing BW Pacific into a leading product tanker company,” the company said.

As of Q2 2015 the company had total assets of USD 1.2 billion and book equity of USD 522 million. The gross value of the fleet (including newbuildings) based on the average of valuations provided by two reputable shipbrokers as per end of Q3 2015 was USD 1.6 billion.

In addition, an over-allotment option to purchase a number of additional common shares equaling up to approximately 15% of the final aggregate number of offer shares will be granted as well.

DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, is acting as Global Coordinator and Pareto Securities AS, together with the Global Coordinator, are acting as Joint Bookrunners for the IPO. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.), Oslo Branch is acting as Co-Manager for the offering. The Global Coordinator and the Joint Bookrunners and the Co- Manager are herein referred to as the Managers.

BW Pacific is a Singapore-based product tanker company, controlled by the BW Group. BW Pacific currently owns an existing fleet of 33 vessels, comprising 17 owned LR1s and 16 owned MRs, and a newbuilding fleet of 12 vessels of which six are LR1s and six are MRs. Four of the MR newbuildings are expected to be delivered in 2015, and the remaining newbuildings are expected to be delivered in 2016 and 2017.