Singapore's First Ship Lease Trust Management (FSLTM), the trustee manager of First Ship Lease, is abandoning the plan it had proposed on November 23 to issue bonds worth an estimated US$200 million due 2016.
Its website announcement blamed the Dubai World credit crisis as the trigger for its decision.
"The start of the investor road show coincided with the outbreak of the Dubai World crisis. This impacted fixed-income investor sentiment particularly in Asia and Europe," Philip Clasius CEO of FSLTM said.
On November 26, Dubai World announced that it was seeking to defer part of its US$60 billion in loans, jolting stock markets across Asia. Markets have recovered since then.
Mr Clasius said the company would revisit the idea of issuing bonds when circumstances changed.
The company statement added that FSL Trust enjoyed a stable and predictable cashflow from its portfolio of longterm lease contracts which has remaining contracted revenue of US$782million as of September 30, 2009.
FSL Trust is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange and its American Depository Receipts are quoted on the PrimeQX tier of International OTCQX. FSLTM is focussed on growing the vessel portfolio of FSL Trust through vessel acquisitions of vessels on long-term bareboat charter.
Jaya Prakash