MPC Container Ships posts first half loss amid vessel acquisition spree

Despite the loss, the Oslo, Norway-based subsidiary of Germany’s MPC Capital has raised another $100 million for vessel acquisitions and has reportedly acquired three more vessels, bringing its total fleet to 23 ships in just nine months.    Oslo, Norway-based MPC Container Ships AS posted a net loss of $436,000 before taxes, according to the company’s most recent financial statements.
   The upstart feeder vessel owner subsidiary of Germany’s MPC Capital noted, however, that this performance “needs to be put in perspective, given that the group is in the start-up phase of its operation.”
   MPC Container Ships, which charters its vessels to global and regional container carriers, had total assets of $172.7 million by the end of June, with a total equity of $170.5 million by the end of the first half of 2017, and is “free of financial liabilities,” according to the company.
   Time charter revenues during the first half of the year totaled $1.2 million, with a gross profit from vessel operations of the first half of 2017 of $100,000.
   The company was formally created in January 2017 and issued 20,000,000 new shares at a subscription price of 42.63 Norwegian Krone (U.S. $5.35) per share in an initial private placement in April. The resulting gross proceeds were $100 million.
   In June 2017, the company issued 15,000,000 new shares at a subscription price of 43 Norwegian Krone per share in a second private placement for gross proceeds of $76 million. Earlier this month MPC Container Ships raised $100 million for vessel acquisitions via a senior secured bond.
   At the halfway mark of 2017, MPC Container Ships owned nine vessels – seven of which are fully owned – with capacity for between 957 TEUs and 2,741 TEUs. The company also has a 50 percent stake in another five vessels, which have an average capacity of 2,824 TEUs.
   MPC Container Ships has since taken over 14 additional vessels, the newest three of which include the HS Onore (to be named “AS Clarita”), a 2,846-TEU vessel built in 2006, the Rio Teslin (to be named “AS Palina”) and Rio Thelon (to be named “AS Petra”), two 2,556-TEU vessels built in 2004.
   The total equity investment for the three vessels is $21.6 million, including working capital requirements and dry dock reserves, according to the company.
   MPC Container Ships said it expects to have the vessels delivered by the end of October, bringing its total vessel count up to 23 vessels.