LONDON (Bloomberg) - Golden Ocean Group Ltd., the commodity shipping line led by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen, advanced in Oslo trading after raising about $110 million through a sale of new shares.

The Bermuda-based company climbed as much as 7.8 percent after saying yesterday in a statement it sold 180 million shares at 4.1 kroner each, raising nine percent more than planned.

The funds will strengthen the shipping line's finances after it said in February the company risked running out of money following a record 92 percent collapse in the cost of transporting coal, ore and grains by sea last year.

Golden Ocean rose 0.16 krone, or 3.9 percent, to 4.29 kroner as of 10.17am in Oslo, valuing the company at 1.2 billion kroner ($180 million).

Mr. Fredriksen, whose businesses also span offshore oil drilling, the world's largest supertanker company and a ship- financier, sold bonds to Golden Ocean that he could have converted into stock. He accepted 35 percent of the bonds' stated value, the shipping line said in a statement on Wednesday. Four other holders of the securities rejected the same terms. Hemen Holding Ltd., the Fredriksen company that underwrote the stock sale and through which he owns his stake in the shipping line, purchased 72 million of the shares in the placement. That leaves his shareholding unchanged at 40 percent, the statement said.