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Updated: Disgruntled Rickmers Maritime bondholder seeks to block fleet sale to Navios Partners

Updated: Disgruntled Rickmers Maritime bondholder seeks to block fleet sale to Navios Partners
A Rickmers Maritime Trust bondholder has brought an “unprecedented” injunction in attempt to stop the sale of its fleet to Navios Maritime Partners.

Although the Singapore-listed trust had filed to be wound-up the saga with its bondholdlers continues with an individual bondholder Kwok Kian Tow Peter filing an injunction to block the sale of Rickmers Maritime fleet to Navios Partners, unit Navios Partners Containers Inc. Kwok holds the minimum amount SGD250,000 of Rickmers Maritime’s SGD100m notes which the trust failed to redeem in April 2017.

A court hearing was fixed for Monday 15 May, but adjourned until 22 May with directions to the parties to exchange affidavits before the new hearing date.

Last December bondholders blocked a proposed financial restructuring of Rickmers Maritime leading to the eventual move to wind-up the trust in April this year.

“The plaintiff has not previously communicated with the trustee-manager as to this matter and the injunction application was completely unanticipated by the trust,” Rickmers Trust Management told the Singapore Exchange.

“The trustee-manager is of the view that the injunction application is wrongful and seriously jeopardises the unsecured creditors’ partial recovery of their investment.”

It said that Kwok had violated the deeds of the trust by making a legal application on his own rather than via notes trustee DB International Trust (Singapore).

“This is unprecedented in the history of the bond market in Singapore and, if allowed, will disrupt the bond market processes, negate its longstanding legal foundations and open up a floodgate for individual noteholders to commence disruptive legal action on their own, completely disregarding the terms of the Notes Trust Deed,” RTM stated.

“In his application for the injunction, the plaintiff also seeks to be exempted from an undertaking as to damages to be provided to the court in case the injunction is found to be wrongful. This is highly unorthodox and would seriously and irreparably harm the orderly winding up process of the trust if the injunction is to proceed against all known norms.”

On 21 April this year Navios Partners announced it would buy Rickmers Maritime’s fleet of 14 containerships for $113m.

“Such sale, assuming it closes within a reasonable amount of time (as is expected), will result in up-front cash recoveries, soon after closing, of approximately between 8% to 10% to unsecured creditors payable through an escrow arrangement comprising of some $20m from the sales proceeds and cash on hand, to the extent said cash is not used to settle vessel payables and wind-up costs,” RTM claimed.