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Marco Polo suspends share trading as lenders baulk at restrucuring proposal

Marco Polo suspends share trading as lenders baulk at restrucuring proposal
Singapore-listed Marco Polo Marine has suspended its shares from trading as it fails to reach agreement on refinancing and restructuring with some if its lenders.

In a statement to the Singapore exchange (SGX) Marco Polo said its board was calling for a trading suspension after its “experienced resistance from some lenders” to its preliminary proposal for refinancing and restructuring. The proposals include fresh funding from a few strategic investors.

“Based on the feedback received so far from some of the lenders and though the company is not of the present view that a failure of the proposed refinancing and debt restructuring is imminent, the company is not confident at this juncture that it would be able to eventually bridge the gap between the expectations of the lenders and the conditions set by the strategic investors as part of the proposed refinancing and debt restructuring,” the company said.

To add to its woes Marco Polo said that in recent days it had seen an increasing number of reservation of rights letters and demand letters, including a statutory demand, from creditors.

The company it was likely to have to reach out to a larger group of stakeholders, including trade creditors and the noteholders, to discuss the proposed refinancing and debt restructuring as well as to explore all options that are available

In April Marco Polo missed an interest payment to bondholders to strengthen its cashflow position.

The company also said in mid-April that most of its vessels were not chartered out and for those that were some customers were not paying onto, or not at all.