Maritime Partners is preparing to raise $281.7 million in asset-backed bonds, to fund the purchase of 281 marine vessels that operate on inland waterways under the Jones Act.
MP 2023 LLC, series 2025-1 is a master trust, so it can issue additional notes to investors. Two hundred, fifty-three barges and 28 towboats make up the portfolio, and initially the lease payments from charter companies will repay the securitized notes, says Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Deutsche Bank Securities and Atlas SP Securities are the deal's joint structuring agents and joint bookrunners, KBRA said.
Just one tranche of class A notes will be issued to investors, which has a November 2032 anticipated repayment date and a legal final maturity date of November 2065, according to the rating agency.
The deal structure includes a debt service coverage ratio calculated from previous three months of cash flow, a window that is shorter than the six-month period that other operating lease transactions generally see, KBRA said.
MP 2025-1's loan-to-value ratio will not exceed 70% of aggregate appraised value. To maintain this leverage level, the deal will also collect supplemental principal payments, which get paid after the deal has applied scheduled principal payments.
Notes also benefit from a Bank of America liquidity facility that equals nine months of interest due on the class A notes, KBRA said. As the deal makes monthly payments, if on any payment date more than 20% of the lessees in the portfolio have been in bankruptcy for 180 days or more then all remaining cash after paying fees will be placed into a cash trap account. The same applies if more than 20% of lessees have rejected the charters.
Third-party appraised values, from Dufour, Laskay & Strouse and North American Marine Consultants, give the portfolio of vessels a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 62.5%, and KBRA assigned an A rating to the notes.
Combined with the 316 vessels financed after the 2023-1 notes were issued, the portfolio will include about 597 inland marine vessels, KBRA said. As of the September 2025, the portfolio had a weighted average (WA) age of 8.9 years, while the charters had a remaining term of about 2.9 years, KBRA said.
