Maersk Raises USD 1.25 Bln in Bond Offering

Danish shipping giant Maersk has raised USD 1.25 billion in two bond offerings. The net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, as explained by the company.

This is the first ever USD bond offering for the shipping line, underwritten by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The bonds were priced at a $750m for four year bond due in September 2019 and a $500m ten-year bond due in September 2024.

Both tranches are expected to be rated BBB+ by S&P and Baa1 by Moody’s.

Maersk delivered consistently stabile results for 2013 and 2014.

In the first half of 2014 alone, Maersk boosted profits by more than 55 percent, to $1.1 billion, joining only six of the 17 largest publicly traded companies to be profitable in the first year half, with the 17 collectively posting a margin of negative-0.5 percent, according to research firm Alphaliner.

Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou said in an interview with Danish daily Berlingske Tidende that ‘Maersk Line is the most profitable shipping line in the container industry and we are not giving up the position as the world’s largest on my watch.’