American Shipping gets bondholder approval needed for loan refinancing

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash., Sept. 2 – American Shipping Co. ASA, formerly Aker American Shipping ASA, received bondholder approval of waivers and amendments to the agreement governing its senior callable PIK bonds due 2018, according to a notice from bond trustee Nordic Trustee ASA.

Bondholders voted at a meeting on Sept. 2 in Oslo. There were enough bondholders present to form a quorum, and the proposed resolution obtained 99.93% of the votes.

The company is refinancing a bank loan. The refinancing, totaling about $500 million, will be secured by mortgages over each of 10 vessels owned by American Shipping’s subsidiaries.

Two tranches will have amortization profiles of 18 years. Under the bond agreement’s original terms, any refinancing of the bank loan must not have an amortization profile of more than 15 years. As a result, the issuer asked bondholders to approve the 18-year amortization and waive the bond agreement’s related requirement.

To approve the resolution, holders of at least two-thirds of the bonds represented at the meeting had to vote in favor of the proposal. In order to have a quorum, at least half of the bonds had to be represented at the meeting.

The shipping company is based in Oslo.

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