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The oil company ShaMaran Petroleum listed its first bond issue on Oslo Børs today. Foreign companies are increasingly turning to the Oslo Børs fixed income marketplaces to raise loan capital.
ShaMaran Petroleum is a Canadian company that has ownership interests in oil fields in the Kurdish part of Iraq. The company's subsidiary General Exploration Partners has issued the bond loan – General Exploration P 13/18 11.50% USD C – of USD 150 million. This is a fixed rate issue with interest of 11.5% and maturity in 2018. Pareto Securities is the manager for the issue.
The Norwegian market for corporate bonds – high-yield bonds – has become an export industry, with foreign companies coming to Norway to raise loan capital from foreign investors. Oslo is often mentioned in the same way as New York and London as one of the world's best-functioning high yield markets. The Norwegian high yield market has proved particularly popular with borrowers in the energy and maritime sectors. These are attractive sectors for international investors. Norwegian investment firms have developed both specialist expertise and placing capacity for borrowers in these sectors, and this has helped to promote Oslo Børs into the elite division internationally.
New borrowers so far this year include oil companies such as Iona Energy, Salamander Energy and Igas Energy, as well as rig companies such as Axis Offshore, BassDrill Alpha and North Atlantic Drilling.
