Hafnia’s Limited’s USD 100 Million Private Placement of Shares wins Equity Follow on Deal of the Year at Marine Money Deal of the Year Awards 2023
Hafnia is pleased to announce that it has been awarded Equity Follow on Deal of the Year at Marine Money’s Deal of the Year Awards, together with its advisors Clarksons Platou Securities AS (“Clarksons”), Fearnley Securities AS (“Fearnley”) and SEB Corporate Finance, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (“SEB”), and Conyers as its counsel for its USD 100 million equity private placement.
In 2022, Hafnia executed two major strategic acquisitions, securing significant growth at an optimal point in the cycle. In January 2022, its acquisition of Chemical Tankers Inc. (CTI), with its fleet of 32 Chemical Tankers, was completed. Subsequently, Hafnia acquired 12 modern LR1 Tankers from Scorpio Tankers. The CTI acquisition was done in exchange for shares, taking on USD 700 million of debt, with the Scorpio deal financed with a fully levered sale and leaseback transaction, in which USD 414 million was drawn.
On the back of these acquisitions and the ensuing leveraging of the company, as well positive momentum driving the share price closer to net asset value, an equity offering was decided on as the right solution to strengthen Hafnia’s balance sheet.
Hafnia engaged Clarksons Platou Securities AS, Fearnley Securities AS, SEB Corporate Finance and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, and Conyers as its counsel to assist in a private placement of new common shares in the Company with gross proceeds of up to USD 100 million. The private placement was successfully completed in May 2022 with a placement of 37.6 million new Hafnia shares which resulted in a post-money market capitalization of Hafnia of USD 1.5 billion.
As well as significantly strengthening and optimizing Hafnia’s balance sheet, the transaction received strong demand from a variety of high-profile, international investors and was multiple times oversubscribed. The placement was almost entirely placed with new investors and as a consequence had a material positive impact on Hafnia’s free float and share liquidity. This in turn paved the way for Oaktree Capital Management (who had received Hafnia shares as consideration for the sale of CTI) to gradually reduce its holdings in an efficient and successful manner.
During the four months between May and September, the average volume traded was 300% higher than the corresponding period before the placement. The 30% increase in the free float and share liquidity also meant that in September 2022, Hafnia was included in the Oslo Exchange benchmark index (OSEBX). Hafnia today has a market capitalization of USD 2.8 billion. In September, Oaktree successfully sold 44.1 million shares through a secondary offering, raising gross proceeds of USD 185 million.
The winning deal is described by Hafnia’s CEO Mikael Skov as a “likely candidate, given the close collaboration of our partners running a deal which was a strategic catalyst for increasing the visibility and attractiveness of the Hafnia share to international investors”.
Hafnia thanks Clarksons, Fearnley, SEB and Conyers for their hard work and exemplary collaboration, resulting in this well-deserved award.