American Shipping Co is dipping into the equities market to finance its $157m offshore construction vessel (OCV) purchase.

The Oslo-listed Jones Act tanker owner said in a release on Wednesday that it intends to raise approximately $40m through a private placement, to be distributed over two tranches.

“The company intends to use the net proceeds from the private placement to partly finance the acquisition of the construction vessel Normand Maximus, as well as for general corporate purposes,” American Shipping said in a statement.