Paragon Shipping Inc. Reports Completion of its Controlled Equity Offering

ATHENS, September 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq: PRGN), a global shipping transportation company specializing in drybulk cargoes, announced today the completion of its Controlled Equity Offering made pursuant to an amended sales agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. dated June 4, 2009.

As announced on June 5, 2009, the Company planned to sell 10 million of its common shares from time-to-time at market prices. Yesterday the sale of the 10 million shares was completed at an average net price of $4.11, raising a total of $41.1 million in net cash proceeds. This amount, coupled with the Company's previous Controlled Equity Offering completed on June 2, 2009, generated a total of $83.75 million in net cash proceeds to the Company.

Commenting on the Offering, Michael Bodouroglou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paragon Shipping, stated, "With the completion of our second Controlled Equity Offering program Paragon Shipping is well positioned financially to invest in our future growth. These funds have been set aside for future vessel acquisitions, as we believe that opportunities will arise during late 2009 and throughout 2010 for Paragon to acquire modern drybulk vessels at reasonable valuations that meet our high technical standards, offer our charterers the highest operational standards, and create long term shareholder value. Furthermore, these Controlled Equity Offerings have enabled Paragon to raise equity capital in a very effective manner and expand our shareholder base and liquidity. With the completion of the second Controlled Equity Offering we have approximately $150 million of unrestricted cash and, based upon current drybulk vessel prices we anticipate that we have the financial resources to almost double the size of our current fleet."

After the completion of the second Controlled Equity Offering Paragon has a total of 48,179,115 common shares issued and outstanding.

About Paragon Shipping Inc.

Paragon Shipping Inc. is an Athens, Greece-based international shipping company specializing in the transportation of drybulk cargoes. The Company's current fleet consists of twelve vessels with a total carrying capacity of 765,137 dwt.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statement

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for drybulk shipping capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, charter counterparty performance, ability to obtain financing and comply with covenants in such financing arrangements, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

    Contacts:
    Christopher Thomas
    Chief Financial Officer
    Paragon Shipping Inc.
    15 Karamanli Ave.
    GR 166 73
    Voula, Greece
    Tel: +30(210)8914-600

    Eric Boyriven, Alexandra Tramont
    FD
    Tel: +1(212)850-5600

SOURCE Paragon Shipping Inc