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Weblog December 2009
On December 3th Dockwise’s secondary listing at Euronext Amsterdam became a reality. This listing at the oldest stock exchange in the world represents the completion of a process of financial repositioning of the company as well as a new beginning with the introduction of Dockwise (ticker DOCKW NL) as a maritime and oil & gas services stock on the Dutch exchange. The listing will - in addition to our primary listing at the Oslo Stock Exchange - make Dockwise shares accessible more easily to a wider audience.
Recently the shareholder position of 3i – as private equity investor not a natural holder of a minority stake in a public company - was taken over by three first tier institutional investors: HAL Investments, Project Holland Fonds – an initiative of Rabobank and Delta Lloyd - ,and Sankaty Advisors an affiliate of Bain Capital. Together with existing shareholders the three injected USD 250 million of new capital into the company. This capital will be applied to strengthen the balance sheet by substantially reducing debt.
A robust financial position is one of the fundamentals to sustain our business in the current economic turmoil. In addition after this transaction our balance sheet also puts us in a more solid position regarding the major logistical projects which are being tendered by the oil majors for execution in the years ahead.
In addition the Group’s headquarters have been relocated from Bermuda to the Netherlands, enabling a more efficient management structure and the restructuring of its external communications including this website.
Although we do not expect relief from the current market conditions until well into 2010 our business is fundamentally sound. The recent events described above - which overall were positively received in the market – have moved the company from being a listed leveraged buy-out firmly into the midcap universe and will bring Dockwise to the next plateau of its development.
Peter Wit
Chief Financial Officer
