Safe Bulkers chief executive Polys Hajioannou invested €10.05 million in the dry-bulk shipowner’s latest share issue through Moutoulas Shipping Corporation, as the company completed the expansion of its share capital following last week’s €80.4m private placement. 

In a regulatory announcement on Tuesday, Safe Bulkers said Moutoulas Shipping Corporation, an entity controlled by and closely associated with Hajioannou, acquired 1.5m common shares at €6.70 each on September 11. 

The transaction confirms Hajioannou’s final participation in the placement, which had already been outlined when the company completed the accelerated bookbuilding process last week. His initial subscription was for 2m shares but the allocation was reduced to 1.5m to allow shares to be distributed to other investors, according to the company’s earlier filing. 

Safe Bulkers raised €80.4m in gross proceeds through the placement of 12m new common shares at €6.70 each, with the net proceeds intended to strengthen liquidity, finance its existing newbuilding programme and potentially support further newbuild orders or second-hand vessel acquisitions, as well as general corporate purposes. 

The 12m new shares began trading on the Main Market of Euronext Athens on September 14, following approval of their admission three days earlier. Euronext confirmed that the company now has 113,833,473 listed common shares. 

Safe Bulkers separately confirmed that the same figure now represents its total voting rights, with each common share carrying one vote. 

The company also has 804,950 Series C preferred shares and 3,195,050 Series D preferred shares, neither of which carries voting rights and neither of which is listed on Euronext Athens. As a result, the total number of voting rights remains 113,833,473. 

The latest changes come just over three months after Safe Bulkers became the first shipping company to list on Euronext Athens, while retaining its New York Stock Exchange listing under the ticker SB. At the time of the June listing, Euronext put its market capitalisation at about €580m.