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DryShips Punishes Shareholders with Yet Another Capital Raise

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) has been addicted to raising capital via share sales in the past, and shares are facing real pressure on Monday based on yet another stock offering. The shipping player announced on Friday after the closing bell that it entered into an equity offering sales agreement with Evercore Group to sell up to $200 million of common shares in the company.

Share sales will be made on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or in other transactions at market prices at the time of sale or at negotiated prices. DryShips was quoted saying that it believes this is an opportune time to flexibly access the equity capital markets in order to reduce some or all of its funding needs through 2014. The company put those funding needs at about $150 million.

DryShips also is close to agreements with certain banking syndicates to reduce its debt service payments over the next year and close to adjusting certain financial covenants.

Lastly, the company announced that preliminary data indicated that the Ocean Rig fleet operated at a 98.5% operating efficiency on available for drilling days for the third quarter of 2013. This was said to be a record for Ocean Rig.

DryShips shares have traded down as a result of the offering. Shares were down 7% at $3.51 in active trading after the open on Monday. This $200 million compares to a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, and its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $1.46 to $4.00.

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