** Shares of marine and transportation services co SMHI.N
up 5% at $4.45 premarket
** SMHI says its indirect subsidiary entered into a
conditional debt pay-off agreement administered by JPMorgan
Chase Bank, N.A. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNXr0bNC
** After the pay-off, debt will be reduced by $112.5 mln,
resulting in total debt of $354.2 mln, a 24.1% reduction from
the $466.7 mln debt reported as of March 31 - SEACOR
** "This transaction significantly de-levers our balance
sheet and is an accretive use of our liquidity as we reset the
capital structure of our liftboat fleet" - CEO John Gellert
** SMHI shares up 56.5% YTD, as of last close
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru)
((Arunima.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com))