direct/Íslandsbanki hf (NO) - Islandsbanki leads new long-term credit facility for Havila Shipping ASA

Islandsbanki leads new long-term credit facility for Havila Shipping ASA

Oslo/Aalesund/Reykjavik - Havila Shipping ASA ("Havila") and Islandsbanki ("ISB") announced today that Havila has obtained approximately NOK 250 million for 5 years from the Icelandic bond market, in an issue managed by ISB in Reykjavik and KredittBanken Aalesund in Norway. The bonds were issued as part of Havila´s strategy to continue to diversify its debt profile and access longer-term debt, which is a part of the refinancing of Havila´s fleet done by KredittBanken ASA and DnB NOR ASA.

The bonds are denominated in ISK, mature in November 2010 and accumulate an annual interest of 6.00%. The face value of the bonds, which have a senior unsecured status, is ISK 2.350 millions. The ISK proceeds have been fully swapped into NOK debt for Havila. The issue marks the third bond issue ISB manages this year for clients outside of Iceland, the previous two were Norwegian seafood company Aker Seafoods (NOK 400m) and Canadian seafood company Clearwater (USD 40m).

Havila´s CEO Njål Sævik commented: "It´s the first time we co-operate with Islandsbanki and KredittBanken and we are impressed. Their knowledge of the offshore industry is very good. The bond issue considerably strengthens our long term funding and we´re pleased to have Islandsbanki presenting us to Icelandic institutional investors."

About Havila:
Havila Shipping ASA was established on 31 July 2003 and operates a total of 18 ships; platform supply vessels, anchor handling tug supply vessels and rescue- and recovery vessels. Havila´s business concept is to provide maritime support functions for international offshore oil and gas production, to own and run the assets regarded as necessary or desirable for this, and to provide associated services. Havila´s goal is to be the leading provider of quality-assured supply services to offshore companies, both national and international. The Company aims to safeguard its long-term perspective through a balanced chartering strategy that ensures a basic cash flow combined with an assessed exposure to the spot market. The main market for the Company´s ships is the North Sea. However, the Company is attempting to achieve a wider geographical distribution of its fleet. Havila has its head office in Fosnavåg, where it has 12 employees, and it also has a Branch office in Aberdeen with 10 employees

The Havila history

Havila Shipping has a long history. The Sævik family started in the marine industry in 1904 by acquiring its first fishing vessels. In 1996 the Sævik family founded Sævik Supply and listed it on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Sævik Supply was acquired by Trico one year later. The family used freed up capital to found Havila Supply in 1998. Havila Supply was also listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It too was acquired, this time by Groupe Bourbon in 2003. Havila Supply´s standby (RRV) fleet was however bought by the Sævik family and put into a new offshore company, Havila Shipping. When a fleet of vessels came up for sale from Seacor in February 2005, Havila saw a good opportunity. In addition to 10 standby and rescue vessels, Havila has 1 AHTS and 5 PSVs, all but one bought en bloc from Seacor Marine. In addition they have a 30% interest in PSV VS 483 design Havila Fortress. This year Havila has received two new PSV and ordered two new AHTS for delivery in 2007.

About ISB
Islandsbanki (ISB) is a leading financial group that offers universal banking. The bank has an office in Denmark, a branch in the UK, and is the sole owner of banks in Luxembourg and Norway (BNbank and KredittBanken). ISB is listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of approximately EUR 2.7 billion. ISB recently announced record profit for the first 9 months of 2005 with an ROE of 34%. Total assets by end of June 2005 were EUR 17,7 billion. For further information go to www.isb.is

About KredittBanken ASA
KredittBanken (KBK) is a niche Bank located in Ålesund. KredittBanken do have a strategy to strengthen and increase their position as a significant player within Offshore, Seafood, Shipping and Shipbuilding.

For further information, please contact:
Njål Sævik, CEO, Havila Shipping ASA, phone :+47 70080900
Jostein Sætrenes, Managing Director, KredittBanken, +47-908 51 159 , e-mail: jostein.saetrenes@kredittbanken.no
Finnur Reyr Stefánsson, Managing Director of Capital Markets, tel. +354 844 4464


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