Star Bulk Carriers Corp said it would purchase fellow dry bulk carriers Oceanbulk Shipping LLC and Oceanbulk Carriers LLC in an all-stock deal that will make Oaktree Capital Management its largest shareholder. Star Bulk Carriers is issuing 54.104 million new shares to buy the Oceanbulk companies, valuing the deal at about $653 million based on Star Bulk Carrier's Friday close of $12.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.After closing, the Athens, Greece-based company will be the largest U.S.-listed dry bulk shipper, with a market value of about $1 billion, Star Bulk Carriers said on Monday.The new shares will go to affiliates of Oaktree Capital Management and Star Bulk Carriers' non-executive chairman, Petros Pappas, and some of his immediate family members.Oaktree will own 61.3 percent of Star Bulk Carriers, while Pappas and family will own 12.5 percent.
Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Star Bulk) is an international company providing worldwide transportation of drybulk commodities through its vessel-owning subsidiaries for a broad range of customers of major and minor bulk cargoes including iron ore, coal, grain, cement and fertilizer. Shares of SBLK remained unchanged at $12.07. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $5.28 and as high as $15.88. On average, 182440 shares of SBLK exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 200.
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