Bruce Barnard | May 10, 2011 8:43AM EDT
Diana Containerships is planning a public offering of up to $172.5 million to pay down debt and build its fleet of container vessels.
The carrier, which recently listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, said it would use $65 million of the proceeds to fully repay a bank loan and $63.5 million to fund the balance of the $70.5 million cost of three container ships bought from Maserk Line.
The balance will be used for additional vessel acquisitions, and may include two 1996-built ships the carrier is negotiating to buy, Diana Containerships wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Diana Containerships, which was spun off by dry bulk ship-owner Diana Shipping at the beginning of the year, operates five container ships with capacities ranging from 3,426 to 4,714 20-foot-equivalent units.
The carrier last week posted first quarter profit of $256,829 compared with a year earlier loss of $236,682 on charter revenue of $3.2 million.