Textainer announces $829m bond programme

Textainer Group, which leases shipping containers, has $829m (R13.9bn) in asset-backed bonds and says it has used the proceeds to pay off other debts and take advantage of low interest rates.

The group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Textainer Marine Containers VII, issued the notes, which are secured by its assets, and have a weighted average life of about five years.

“These notes allow us to benefit from the current low rate environment to further decrease our borrowing costs while creating additional capacity for future container investments,” said Textainer CFO Michael Chan.

Bermuda-based Textainer, which has a primary listing on the New York stock exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE, has operated since 1979 and is one of the world’s largest lessors of intermodal containers.

The group, which had a market capitalisation of R12.38bn on Tuesday morning, said in August it had seen an uptick in activity in its third quarter to end-September, but has been under pressure by a slowdown in global trade as a result of Covid-19.

The group had reported headline earnings fell 38% to $17.1m in its six months to end-June from the prior comparative period. At the end of June it had total debt of $3.9bn.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za