Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Danish Ship Finance A/S (“DSF”) on a US$100m term loan facility granted to ship-owning companies of the Diana Shipping Inc. Group (“Diana Shipping”) for the refinancing of nine vessels with a maturity date in April 2028.
The proceeds from the new loan facility will refinance other loans with an aggregate outstanding amount of approximately US$87m, namely two existing loan facilities with BNP Paribas of approximately US$75.2m (maturity dates in July 2023 and in May 2024) and another loan facility with DNB Bank ASA of approximately US$11.8m (maturity date in March 2024) related to the same nine vessels. The remaining proceeds may be used to pay transaction costs and expenses incurred in connection with the loan agreement and/or general corporate purposes.
DSF is a highly specialised niche player dedicated to serving its customers to the highest standards of business. The company provides ship financing in Denmark as well as in the international market. It is a stable and reliable source of short-term and long-term loan capital for shipowners in all stages of the shipping cycle and it is a competent and trustworthy partner to its customers and financial counterparties as well as other stakeholders.
Diana Shipping is a global provider of ship transportation services through its ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels. Its vessels are employed primarily on short to medium-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes including commodities such as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.
The WFW Athens Maritime team that advised DSF was led by Partner Christina Giagka, supported by Senior Associate Kelina Kantzou and Associates Vassia Angeletaki and Yolanda Psychogyiou.
Christina commented: We are so pleased to have advised with DSF on such an important loan agreement. It is a testament to our team’s capabilities in delivering high quality legal services to our clients and working with on complex and strategic transactions”.
