PIL to delist ship financing vehicle

   The Singapore-based shipping line PIL plans to delist a ship financing vehicle from the Singapore Stock Exchange, according to reports this week.
   The vehicle, called Pacific Shipping Trust (PST), was set up in 2006 to allow retail investors to participate in the ship-owning and financing market, with ships financed through the model chartered out to PIL. In return, investors were assured a quarterly yield.
   PST was the first such trust to be established in Singapore, and was soon followed by a handful of other trusts. It functions in largely the same way as Seaspan Corp.
   PIL said it intends to spend nearly $200 million gaining a 75 percent share of the trust, the threshold needed to delist it, according to a report from maritime news outlet Tradewinds. The aim of acquiring the vehicle is to remove the requirement of satisfying investor returns in a time when acquiring capital to finance ships is becoming harder.
   PIL has offered a 15 percent premium on the current price of PST. It currently has nearly 60 percent of PST.