UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-16 OR 15D-16 OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of December 2017
Commission File Number: 001-13944
NORDIC AMERICAN TANKERS LIMITED
(Translation of registrant's name into English)
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman
LOM Building, 27 Reid Street, Hamilton, HM 11, Bermuda
(Address of principal executive office)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F ☒ Form 40-F ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ☐
Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b) (1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): ☐.
Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted to furnish a report or other document that the registrant foreign private issuer must furnish and make public under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the registrant is incorporated, domiciled or legally organized (the registrant's "home country"), or under the rules of the home country exchange on which the registrant's securities are traded, as long as the report or other document is not a press release, is not required to be and has not been distributed to the registrant's security holders, and, if discussing a material event, has already been the subject of a Form 6-K submission or other Commission filing on EDGAR.
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS FORM 6-K REPORT
Attached to this report on Form 6-K as Exhibit 1 are copies of the press releases of Nordic American Tankers Limited (the "Company") dated December 12, 2017 and December 13, 2017 and each respectively titled "Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) Announces Public Offering as Part of a Recapitalization of NAT" and "Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) is launching a Recapitalization Program with NAT Equity Offering as one component."
Attached to this report on Form 6-K as Exhibit 2 is the Underwriting Agreement dated December 13, 2017 by and among the Company and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, as representative of the several underwriters, relating to the offering of common shares by the Company.
This Report on Form 6-K is hereby incorporated by reference into the Company's registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-218903).
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
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NORDIC AMERICAN TANKERS LIMITED
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(registrant)
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Dated: December 13, 2017
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By:
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/S/ HERBJØRN HANSSON
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Herbjørn Hansson
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Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
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Exhibit 1
Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) Announces Public Offering as Part of a Recapitalization of NAT
Hamilton, Bermuda, December 12, 2017
Nordic American Tankers Limited (the "Company") today announced an underwritten public offering of $100 million of its common shares pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement. At the Company's request, the underwriters have reserved for sale an aggregate of approximately $1.2 million of its common shares for certain members of the Company's board of directors, management and advisors, which includes approximately $1.0 million to be purchased by the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and his immediate family. The Company also intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the offering.
On December 1, 2017 NAT established a sale/leaseback arrangement for the three newbuilds to be delivered in 2018. The well known Aker Group of Norway (via 66.2% owned Ocean Yield) is behind this arrangement. The major Scandinavian banks, DnB of Norway and SEB of Sweden have established important guarantee provisions related to the recapitalization of NAT.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering, together with proceeds from recapitalization transactions, primarily to repay outstanding amounts under its current credit facility, finance the expansion of its fleet and for general corporate purposes.
The common shares purchased by the underwriters are expected to be offered for resale from time to time in negotiated transactions or otherwise, at market prices on the New York Stock Exchange prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices or otherwise. On December 11, 2017, the closing price of the Company's common shares on the New York Stock Exchange was $3.66 per share.
Morgan Stanley, Clarksons Platou Securities, Inc., DNB Markets, Inc., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) and Seaport Global Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. The offering is being made by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement. Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to the offering may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC at 180 Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.
Contacts:
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) is launching a Recapitalization Program with NAT Equity Offering as one component
Hamilton, Bermuda, December 13, 2017
Nordic American Tankers Limited (the "Company") has previously announced the NAT recapitalization program where the equity offering is one component. The pricing of the equity offering itself took place today according to the Company's effective shelf registration statement. Following demand for shares the transaction has been upsized to $110 million.
The Company agreed to sell 40 million common shares at a public offering price of $2.75 per share. At the Company's request, the underwriters have reserved for sale an aggregate of approximately 450,000 common shares for certain members of the Company's board of directors, management and advisors. The Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and his immediate family have purchased $1 million worth of shares all at the public offering price. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6.0 million common shares . The Company intends to close the sale of the common shares on December 15, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to be part of the recapitalization program primarily to repay outstanding amounts under its current credit facility originally of 2004, finance the growth of NAT and for general corporate purposes. On December1, 2017, NAT initiated a sale/leaseback arrangement for three newbuildings to be delivered in 2018. This is a part of the recapitalization program.
Morgan Stanley, Clarksons Platou Securities, Inc., DnB Markets Inc., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) and Seaport Global Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering itself. The other parts of the recapitalization program are supported by Clarksons Platou, DnB, SEB and Morgan Stanley.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. The offering is being made by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement. Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to the offering may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC at 180 Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.
Contacts:
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Exhibit 2
40,000,000 Shares of Common Stock
NORDIC AMERICAN TANKERS LIMITED
UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT
December 13, 2017
MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC
As Representative of the
several Underwriters named in
Schedule I attached hereto (the "Representative")
c/o Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
1585 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Ladies/Gentlemen:
Nordic American Tankers Limited, a company organized and existing under the laws of the Islands of Bermuda (the "Company"), proposes, subject to the terms and conditions stated herein, to issue and sell to the several underwriters named in Schedule I hereto (the "Underwriters") an aggregate of 40,000,000 (the "Firm Shares") of its common shares, par value $0.01 per share (the "Common Stock") and, at the option of the Underwriters, up to an additional 6,000,000 shares (the "Additional Shares") of Common Stock. The Firm Shares and any Additional Shares purchased by the Underwriters are referred to herein as the "Shares". Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as the lead manager ("Lead Manager") in connection with the offering and sale of the Shares contemplated herein (the "Offering").
In connection with the Offering, the Company entered into (1) a Mandate Letter, dated as of November 28, 2017 (the "Commitment Letter"), between the Company and DNB Bank ASA, providing for a committed senior secured bridge loan facility of up to $375,000,000 and (2) a binding term sheet, dated as of November 28, 2017 (the "Sale/Leaseback Term Sheet"), between the Company and Ocean Yield ASA, providing for sale and leaseback financing for the three newbuildings expected to be delivered to the Company in 2018.