Pacific Shipping Trust gets $132m bank loan to fund acquisitions

Pacific Shipping Trust (PST) has on Thursday secured financing commitments for a total of $132m from three banks to fund its purchase of five new bulk carriers, Seatrade-asia reports. OCBC, Standard Chartered Bank and ING Bank will provide the loan for the five 57,000 dwt supramax bulk carriers, which have been time-chartered to Glovis for eight to 10 years. Last November, the Singapore-listed shipping trust secured $150m of loans from DBS Bank, Malayan Banking Berhad and Bangkok Bank Public Company to fund the acquisition of two capesize bulk carriers and two multi-purpose vessels. “Existing unitholders should benefit from these transactions when the contracted charter earnings come onstream, raising total revenue by $552m to almost $800m, extending through 2023,” PST said.