Rickmers? trust goes public

RickmersÆ trust goes public Rickmers Holding, parent company of ocean carrier Rickmers Linie, this week launched an initial public offering for its Singapore-based ship-leasing vehicle, Rickmers Maritime.
   The German carrier is offering shares of the trust at 92 cents to $1.06 in hopes of raising $182 million. Rickmers said the trust would be its long-term mechanism for ship owning. It would begin with a fleet of 10 vessels, with the first right of refusal on nine others.
   'It is our platform for growth for the future,’ Bertram Rickmers, chairman of Rickmers Holding, told Lloyd's List.
   Shares will begin trading May 4 and Hamburg-based Rickmers will hold roughly 28 percent of the trust once it is listed, he told Channel NewsAsia.