Yang Ming to list 500m shares in new public offering

The Taiwanese ocean carrier will offer the shares to existing shareholders, Yang Ming employees and the general public as part of the company’s ongoing recapitalization plan.    Yang Ming Marine Transport will make a public offering of 500 million shares as part of the company’s ongoing recapitalization plan, the Taiwanese ocean carrier said in a statement Friday.
   The company said existing shareholders, Yang Ming employees and the general public will be able to purchase stock at a “price to be determined.”
   “This public offering is made largely in response to the interests shown by current shareholders to invest in Yang Ming,” the carrier said.
   In February, Yang Ming reportedly secured more than $54 million via private stock offerings, selling 161 million new shares to the state-run National Development Fund, Taiwan Navigation, and other institutional investors.
   But then in April, the company suspended stock trading due to its capital restructuring, reducing the firm’s share count from 3 billion to 1.4 billion. The stock trade suspension raised suspicions about another shipping company defaulting, as in 2016, Yang Ming initiated a 53 percent cut in capitalization as it recorded a full year loss of $492.1 million compared to the loss of $212.5 million in 2015.
   However, Yang Ming has given a more positive outlook for the rest of 2017 as freight rates stabilize and cargo sector rebounds. Revenues last month totaled $385 million, up 22.86 percent from a year earlier, according to company figures.
   “Based on the company’s recent results and the overall performance and trend in the industry, Yang Ming remains optimistic in our forecast for 2017,” the company said.