Scorpio Bulkers Ends Busy Buying Week With IPO Launch

Scorpio Bulkers newbuild orderbook currently consists of 52 vessels at yards in Japan, China and Romania.

Newly-established Scorpio Bulkers has announced the commencement of a $150 million initial public offering, ending a busy week that included the purchase of 12 newbuild ships totaling over one million DWT’s and nearly $400 million.

In a statement late Friday, Scorpio announced its plans to list 15,500,000 shares of common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SALT’, with a 30-day option to underwriters to purchase up to 2,325,000 additional common shares. On December 2, 2013, the closing price of the Company’s common shares on the Norwegian OTC List was $9.75 per share.

The IPO announcement, which had been widely discussed, ends a busy week of orders that included the purchase of 12 new ships at four different yards in China and Japan, further extending the company’s now 52-vessel fleet expansion.

Scorpio said Thursday it has agreed to purchase five 82,000 DWT Kamsarmax bulkers currently under construction at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China for a total purchase price of $157 million. The vessels will be delivered starting in Q3 of 2015, with the last scheduled for delivery in Q1 2016. Yesterday’s purchase agreement followed an order earlier this week for eight newbuilds, six Kamsarmax and two Ultramax (60,200 DWT), at three different yards in China and Japan for a purchase price of approximately $242 million. Those vessels will be delivered progressively between Q2 2014 and Q3 2016.

Scorpio Bulkers, a newly established provider of marine transportation of dry bulk commodities, has now contracted and agreed to purchase at 28 Ultramax, 21 Kamsarmax and three Capesize newbuilding dry bulk vessels to be delivered starting from the second quarter of 2014 from shipyards in Japan, China and Romania.

The company says that the net proceeds of this public offering are expected to be used to fund newbuilding vessel capital expenditures, including capital expenditures related to the company’s initial fleet, and for general corporate purposes, including working capital.