NOL PLANS US$500-MILLION SHARE ISSUE TO REDUCE DEBTS

NOL PLANS US$500-MILLION SHARE ISSUE TO REDUCE DEBTS

    Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, the parent company of APL, is planning to raise US$500 million in capital through a share issue.
    NOL said that an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will decide on July 12 on the plan to raise US$300 million from an international share placement and another US$200 million from the issue of redeemable non-convertible preference shares.
    Flemming Jacobs, chief executive officer of NOL, said that approximately two thirds of the capital raised will be used to repay debts. The balance will finance the growth of the group.
    The debts of the NOL group have increased substantially in the last two years following the US$825-million purchase of APL in 1997.
    NOL, which sold APL’s former stacktrain business for S$545 million (US$320 million) in April, said that the share issue will reduce interest payments and significantly increase the company’s capital of S$1.5 billion (US$880 million).