Star Bulk Carriers Corp said it would purchase Oceanbulk Shipping LLC and Oceanbulk Carriers LLC in an all-stock deal to create the largest U.S.-listed dry bulk shipper.Star Bulk is issuing 54.104 million new shares to buy the Oceanbulk companies, valuing the deal at about $653 million based on Star Bulk's Friday close of $12.07.The deal comes as the global dry bulk shipping industry is poised to recover from a severe downturn, helped by steadying demand for iron ore and coal from China and India and the scrapping of older vessels.After closing, the Athens, Greece-based company will have a market value of about $1 billion and a fleet of 69 vessels, Star Bulk said on Monday.
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 traded higher by 4.53% or $0.547/share to $12.62. 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 431446.
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