Law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP has advised National Bank of Greece (NBG) on a US$151 million secured loan facility deal with Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Star Bulk).
Star Bulk is a leading NASDAQ-listed global dry bulk shipping company, which provides worldwide seaborne transportation of dry bulk cargoes. The facility was secured by, among other measures, security over 22 vessels in Star Bulk’s fleet. The purpose of the facility was to refinance existing indebtedness and to provide Star Bulk with financing for the buy-back of shares from its largest investor, Oaktree Capital Management.
“This was a significant deal for NBG, being one of the biggest facilities that the bank has extended in the dry bulk shipping market,” said Chris Vartzis, partner, Stephenson Harwood. “Our team worked hard to meet the challenging and tight deadline set for this substantial project, which required close cooperation with the NBG team and the Star Bulk team, whilst maintaining the firm's acknowledged quality of work and services.
"The deal involved complexities which were successfully addressed through the firm's close cooperation with numerous lawyers based in a range of jurisdictions, including the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Germany, Singapore and Cyprus."
The Stephenson Harwood team was led by Piraeus-based partner Chris Vartzis, who was supported by associate Christina Voulgaraki. Further assistance was provided by Singapore-based partner Colin Jarraw and associate Jamie Loh in respect of the Singaporean law aspects of the transaction.
