American Petroleum Tankers (APT), which is controlled by the Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital, is looking to raise up to $172.5m.

In a prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission the company said it plans to list common units on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “JAT”.

Pricing and timing are yet to be determined but the company noted proceeds will be used to repay borrowings under an existing credit facility and fund cash distributions.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank, Barclays and Wells Fargo Securities were identified as bookrunners and many believe co-managers will be added down the road.

APT is led by chief executive Robert Kurz and based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania where it oversees a fleet of five medium-range products tankers with an average age of 3.7 years.

The owner also intends to acquire four 50,000-dwt vessel under construction at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego from the Blackstone affiliate that is bankrolling the project.

APT said it is not obligated to purchase the tankers from the US private equity firm but said it will likely do so and expects to fund the campaign with a combination of debt and equity.

The company noted it has already secured five-year fixtures for the ships that are scheduled to commence upon delivery in 2015 and 2016 in deals that include three one-year options.

As we have reported all of APT’s tankers are eligible to trade in markets that are subject to the Jones Act, a US cabotage law that says all coastwise commodities shipments must be handled by ships that are US built, crewed, flagged and owned.

Today, it identified BP, Shell, Chevron, Marathon, Military Sealift Command and “two major oil refiners” as the counterparties behind contracts in which it's existing fleet is earning day rates of around $54,000 on average.

At a glance industry observers say they were not surprised to see today’s filing given heightened interest in the renaissance of US crude oil production, a phenomenon that is fuelling freight rates that have reached highs of $100,000 per day.

While APT has turned in net losses $51.9m, $35.6m and $42.4m, respectively, over the past three years many equity analysts believe interest in the IPO will be high due to the growing number of investors that are looking to cash in on the shale oil revolution.

With the exception of Kirby Corp, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Seacor Holdings and a few other stocks, market researchers are quick to point out that there are very few publicly-traded equities that offer exposure to the Jones Act tanker market.

APT was first tipped as an IPO candidate some time ago but made TradeWinds headlines back in August on the heels of reports that efforts to take the company public had been accelerated after forging alliances with Barclays and BofA Merrill.