In a statement NewYork-listed Navios said the public offering of 12 million common shares will bebacked by Citigroup, RS Platou Markets, Deutsche Bank and S Goldman Capital.

“NaviosAcquisition expects to use the net proceeds from the public offering forworking capital and other general corporate purposes, including the repaymentof outstanding indebtedness and/or the acquisition of vessels,” it said.

While the cashmay be used to fund fleet expansion the company, which will intends to grantunderwriters a 30-day option to pick up an additional 1.8 million shares, wasquick to point out that “no such acquisitions are pending or have beenidentified”.

Earlier thisweek the tanker operator’s chief executive, Angeliki Frangou,expressed a greatdeal of interest in the VLCC segment during a conference call in which her toplieutenant, Ted Petrone, outlined a number of trends that are making the sectorincreasingly attractive.

One of the Monacoand Athens-based company’s affiliates, Navios Maritime Partners, made headlinesas well around the same time when it lined up a follow-on Wall Street offering ofits own. On Tuesday the New York-quoted MLP priced 5.5m units at $17.30 a piece.

A copy of Navios Acquisition's fourth-quarter conference call presentation, which paints a surprisingly in depth picture of the tanker markets and its chartering strategy, by clicking on the link located under the Related Media section to the right of this article.