Maritime & Merchant Bank fills gap in ship finance market

Ceo Halvor Sveen, with long experience in shipping and ship finance including a spell as head of shipping and offshore at Pareto Bank, reveals that the bank has established a loan book of about $170m and is aiming to grow this to more than $1bn by 2022.

Established by a number of high net worth shipping entrepreneurs including Arne Blystad and Henning Oldendorff, M&M is targeting small and medium-sized customers, Sveen explains, many of whom have fallen out of favour with increasingly cautious traditional shipping banks. He points out that many shipping lenders are either retracting or reducing their presence in shipping, leaving established customers unable to obtain “sensible financing”.

The bank is geographically agnostic. Approximately half of its customers are Norwegian, but more enquiries are now being received from potential customers in markets including Germany, Greece, the UK and Singapore. Sveen says that serious enquiries are now being received on an almost daily basis.

In its due diligence process, the bank is looking for shipping experience and transparency amongst its clients, but the age of ships is not necessarily a constraint, with a flexible strategy but a “sweet spot” in assets of 10-12 years. Sveen describes the offshore sector as a business for the future owing to the far-reaching restructuring process which is still under way, leaving no appropriate role for M&M at the moment.

Transaction lending could typically cover 50% of fair market value, Steen reveals, and the bank is not aiming to compete on low margins. However, he stresses that M&M prides itself on a flexible approach and the speed of its response time.

“We can receive an application on Monday and have approval in principle by Friday. The fewer do’s and don’ts, the better,” he says, stressing the importance of the human factor and sound client relationships.