New Norwegian shipping bank gets license

The bank, the launch of which was announced last October, will focus on mortgage-based lending for small and midsize owners in the offshore and maritime industries.

"We are currently preparing for a capital issue with a target of $300-350m in equity to fund operations," explained Halvor Sveen, ceo. "We have selected Pareto Securities AS and DNB Markets as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners, with Cleaves Securities to act as Financial Advisor. We aim to start operations during April 2014.''

Maritime & Merchant hopes to operate on a personal level, with low overheads, constant quality assurance and direct communication with clients.

"There are interesting opportunities out there," Sveen stated, "with a market emerging from a down cycle, favourable asset prices and, currently, increasing rates in some sectors. But smaller and medium-sized players, even those with an excellent reputation, can't take advantage of that without accessing finance."