DryShips Settles With Lender To Pay Back Only Half The Principal Owed

Shares of DryShips Inc. soared 18% in active premarket trade Monday, after the Greece-based drybulk shipper said it reached an agreement with one of its lenders to settle its outstanding debt obligations. Volume ahead of the open exceeded 1 million shares, making it the second-most active stock ahead of the open. Under terms of the deal, the lender has agreed to write off about half of the outstanding principal and interest that remains due. DryShips has repaid about $8.2 million of the principal, and will have to pay an additional $2.0 million over the next nine months as part of the agreement. The stock has been extremely volatile over the past week, rocketing earlier in the week, then selling off sharply on Thursday before bouncing back on Friday. Meanwhile, the stock has plunged 95% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.

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