HSH Nordbank’s Chang predicts extended fund struggle for owners

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Singapore: HSH Nordbank AG, the world’s biggest shipbuilding financer, said the global credit crunch and recession mean that shipowners will likely struggle to raise funds for as much as 18 months, writes Bloomberg.
“We still haven’t seen the light,” Paul Chang, the lender’s Asia head of shipping, said in Singapore yesterday. The timing for the end of the credit squeeze will depend on how fast lenders can recapitalize, he added.
Banks worldwide have curbed lending to shipping lines and other industries on concerns about getting repaid amid the recession. Lenders are also struggling to raise funds, with HSH Nordbank, itself, having to seek a bailout from its biggest shareholders, the German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.  [25/02/09]