TBS to raise $95.9 million through stock sale

TBS to raise $95.9 million through stock sale Multipurpose and bulk ship owner TBS International Ltd. said it has priced a secondary stock offering of 3.4 million shares at $51 per share.
   The company is offering 2 million Class A common shares and selling shareholders will offer an additional 1.4 million shares. The brokers managing the sale also have an option to purchase an additional 510,000 shares.
   Net proceeds to TBS would be $95.9 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. It will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling shareholders. It says it would use the funds for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of secondhand vessels, the acquisition or construction of new vessels, repayment of debt, additions to working capital or capital expenditures.
   The net proceeds would be about $2.5 million more than the company had estimated a week and a half ago, during which time bulk ship charter rates and TBS’s stock price has risen.
   Including two vessels under purchase contract, the TBS fleet of 44 ships comprises 23 multipurpose tweendeckers and 21 handymax/handysize bulk carrier.