Good News: DryShips Surges On Debt Deal
DryShips
(DRYS) - Get Report
shares are moving again -- this time leaping 22% after the company renegotiated its waiver covenants on $654 million in loans, giving it a bit of breathing room as it attempts to work out from under a heavy debt load.
The waiver covers 23 ships out of a fleet of 43, the company said in a press release Friday. The loan was from a syndicate led by HSH Nordbank.
The drybulk shipping concern, based in Athens, had about $2.5 billion in total debt as of the end of last year. It recently announced plans for a $475 million at-the-market offering of stock, and investors, worried about dilution of as much as 40%, had weighed DryShips shares down by an equivalent percentage this week.
By the end of trading Friday, DryShips shares had gained back most of the week's losses, changing hands at $6.84, up 75 cents, or 12%, on volume of 115 million shares. Average daily volume is 42 million. DryShips stock, like its sector in general, has been beaten down since reaching a 52-week high of nearly $111 almost exactly a year ago.
Prices rose broadly among shipping stocks Friday.
Diana Shipping
(DSX) - Get Report
was up 4%,
Safe Bulkers
(SB) - Get Report
was up 9%, and
Excel Maritime
(EXM)
was up 4%.
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