Viking Offshore to raise S$12.5 million in bond issue to private equity fund

VIKING Offshore and Marine on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with Luminor Pacific Fund 1 Ltd to issue Luminor S$12.5 million in redeemable exchangeable bonds. This is to help the company fund its purchase of a land rig from Beijing Forpetro Sino-Rig Co, it said.

The investor will subscribe for the bonds in two tranches of S$6.25 million each. It is entitled to exchange all or part of the bonds into shares prior to Viking's redemption.

The exchange price will be S$0.175; or a 10-per-cent discount to the volume weighted average trading price over a 30-day period before the exercise date, whichever is lower. Assuming all the bonds are exchanged at the maximum price of S$0.175, the company will have to issue more than 71.4 million exchange shares, it said.

The investor is a private equity fund managed by the Singapore-based Luminor Capital.

The bonds will mature 24 months from their issuance. They will bear a simple interest rate of 5 per cent per annum, payable in arrears at the end of each six months.

Viking did not appoint any placement agent for the bonds issue as the investor was introduced to the company by a business associate.