Costamare seeks to raise $95.85m in public offering

The Monaco-based containership charterer will use the proceeds of a secondary stock offering for ship purchases and repayment of debt, Costamare said in a statement.    Costamare, a Monaco-based containership owner that charters its vessels to liner companies, plans to raise approximately $95.85 million through a secondary stock offering.
   The company said in a statement it “plans to use the net proceeds of the offering for capital expenditures, including vessel acquisitions, and for other general corporate purposes, which may include repayments of indebtedness.”
   Costamare, shares of which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, said it will sell up to 13.5 million shares at $7.10 each.
   Members of the family of Chief Executive Officer Konstantinos Konstantakopoulos, who own a majority of the company’s common stock, agreed to purchase approximately $10 million of the new offering, and underwriters have been granted a 30 day option to purchase up to an additional 2.025 million shares.
   According to its website, Costamare has a fleet of 69 ships – plus three under construction – that range in size from 1,078 TEUs to 14,424 TEUs. Ocean carriers chartering ships from Costamare include Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, PIL, ZIM, TS Lines, and Sea Consortium.
   Earlier this month, the shipowning group Navios announced plans to raise $75 million and create a new company called Navios Maritime Containers that will purchase 14 ships from Rickmers Maritime and become a “growth vehicle dedicated to the container sector of the maritime industry.”