Funding a listed shipping company

You are to research the types of funds currently available to shipping firms. Based on your research you are to prepare a report for the directors of a fictional fast- growing shipping company, already listed in a stock-market of your choice, making recommendations as to the types of funds they should use to finance its projected continued growth.
You should acknowledge the types/sources of funds that are available to the company, and should – at the very least – include a theoretical discussion of the merits of raising debt versus equity, on – or off – the security exchange.
Your theoretical framework should be supported by examples drawn from real shipping companies, and make reference to relevant theories, textbooks, journals and reputable internet sources, in accordance with good academic practices. The
latest developments in the financial markets and/or relevant corporate regulations should also be taken into consideration.
Your report’s conclusion should make clear recommendations concerning how the company’s growth will be funded, underlining how these proposals contribute to the maximisation of shareholders’ wealth. Relevant national laws, financial regulations or corporate procedures concerning the raising of funds are expected to be taken into consideration in order to produce realistic recommendations.
Additional guidance
Your company is a fictional one. You’ll have to attach in your appendix a simplified profile in order to establish some context for your recommendations. However you are not meant to waste words within the main body of the report to explain the company’s investment strategy, something that the company’s board of directors are already familiar with. In other words: your assignment is about funding and, as such, sections about investment or other strategies will be considered off-topic.
Concerning your theoretical framework: a good starting point, besides the material uploaded, to identify the various types of funds available to a shipping company are the textbooks from your reading list. Remember to include a page number when citing from books spanning hundreds of pages.
The board of directors would like to know if your framework actually applies to a shipping company such as theirs; you are thus expected to provide a minimum of one example per funding option identified. It is not mandatory for these examples to be from companies listed in the same security exchange – but the effort to find such relevant examples would be appreciated.
Your company is already listed on the security exchange. As such it already complies with its corporate governance requirements. You are not asked to repeat what those requirements are – the directors are already aware of them. You are however asked to consider the actual procedures that a company needs to follow, in order to raise funds via the issuing of equity or debt. Be aware that the length and complexity of such procedures vary according to each security exchange – so your initial choice of security exchange is an important one. Similarly, other relevant corporate rules or national laws should be explored if they affect the company’s financing options.
Concerning your conclusion section: repeating all the possible funding options, or similar embellishments, will not suffice – you have to identify the best option given the company’s current situation and current market conditions.
Finally, please remember that you have a limited word count. Limit yourselves to the task at hand: discussing the company’s funding options. You are not asked to comment on the company’s investing options, crewing practices, past history or colour of the ship-owner’s eyes. Keep the marking criteria in mind; everything else will be considered off-topic.

Your report should demonstrate academic qualities including – but not limited – to:  Typical Introduction-Methodology-Results-Discussion structure
o Introduction: current context, assignment task, justification of the report’s structure
o Methodology: sources of data, theoretical framework used to analyse them, including criteria for deciding on the best funding option
o Results: funding examples, security exchange procedures, current and forthcoming financial market conditions and corporate regulatory context
o Discussion: confrontation with criteria from theoretical framework, formulation of recommendations, identification of possible alternatives in case market conditions/regulation changes
 Abstract, summarising ALL of the above
 Page numbers, numbered sections, Table of Contents, List of Figures/List of
T ables
 Justified, readable text using a conventional font (e.g. size 11 Calibri or size 12 Times New Roman) with 1.5 line spacing
 No plagiarism
 No off-topics
 No redundancies
 Summarisations and visual aids (i.e. figures and tables) as appropriate
 In-text citations and reference list according to Solent referencing
guidelines, including for the figures and tables used