Advertisement
Singapore markets closed

  • Straits Times Index

    3,176.51
    -11.15 (-0.35%)
     

  • Nikkei

    37,068.35
    -1,011.35 (-2.66%)
     

  • Hang Seng

    16,224.14
    -161.73 (-0.99%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    7,895.85
    +18.80 (+0.24%)
     

  • Bitcoin USD

    63,681.27
    +3,515.75 (+5.84%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,371.97
    +59.34 (+4.52%)
     

  • S&P 500

    4,967.23
    -43.89 (-0.88%)
     

  • Dow

    37,986.40
    +211.02 (+0.56%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    15,282.01
    -319.49 (-2.05%)
     

  • Gold

    2,406.70
    +8.70 (+0.36%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    83.24
    +0.51 (+0.62%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.6150
    -0.0320 (-0.69%)
     

  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,547.57
    +2.81 (+0.18%)
     

  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,087.32
    -79.50 (-1.11%)
     

  • PSE Index

    6,443.00
    -80.19 (-1.23%)
     

Rickmers Investors Seek Bond Payment as Singapore Stresses Rise

Denise Wee
Updated

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore-based shipping trust Rickmers Maritime said it received a letter from lawyers representing some investors stating their desire to take “legal steps and actions against the trust to enforce repayment” of bonds due next year.

The development comes after some holders of the firm’s S$100 million ($72 million) of 8.45 percent notes due in May 2017 sought accelerated repayment last month, as the operator of container ships proposed a debt restructuring plan to help avoid potential liquidation or judicial management. The letter said that the trustee DB International Trust (Singapore) Ltd. has “failed to institute any action against the issuer,” according to a statement Thursday from Rickmers.

More firms in the city-state’s shipping and oil and gas services industries are seeking leniency from creditors on their debt loads amid weakening economic growth. Container throughput in Singapore shrank 8.7 percent in 2015 as global trade slowed, and strains in the city’s maritime sector are mounting as companies including Marco Polo Marine Ltd., KS Energy Ltd. and other oil and gas services providers have asked for more time to repay debts.

Investor Demands

ADVERTISEMENT

The mention of DB International Trust in the letter comes after three noteholders said on Sept. 28 that investors owning more than 25 percent of Rickmers’s 2017 notes delivered a notice seeking better terms to the trustee.

Karene Dufour, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank AG, the parent of DB International Trust, wasn’t able to immediately comment.

Rickmers Trust Management Pte., the trustee-manager of Rickmers Maritime, hasn’t received any notice from the bond trustee DB International stating that the notes are immediately due and payable, according to the Thursday statement.

The trustee, if requested by holders of at least 25 percent of the outstanding notes, may give notice that the securities are immediately repayable, according to the filing.

“No noteholder shall be entitled to proceed against the trust unless the notes trustee, having become bound to do so, fails to do within a reasonable period and such failure is continuing,” it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Denise Wee in Hong Kong at dwee10@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net, Ken McCallum

©2016 Bloomberg L.P.