Marco Polo Marine welcomes Nam Cheong as investor in BBR

The investment by Nam Cheong will be via a proposed rights issue of new shares in Indonesia-listed BBR, which are expected to be priced at IDR230 per share.

Singapore-listed Marco Polo Marine will renounce its rights entitlements to subscribe for new BBR shares in order for Malaysia’s Nam Cheong to attain up to the 30% shareholding stake.

Upon completion of the rights issue, Marco Polo Marine will continue to be the largest shareholder of BBR with approximately 34.8% stake.

Nam Cheong said the net proceeds from the investment will be used primarily to steadily expand the capacity of BBR by investing in OSVs, capitalising on the potentially robust demand for OSVs due to the emerging Indonesian offshore market which requires Indonesian-flagged vessels to comply with cabotage rules.

“BBR is in an advantageous and competitively prime position where it is an established listed company being able to comply with Indonesia cabotage requirements,” said Sean Lee, ceo of Marco Polo Marine.

“To meet the emergent market demand as bigger rigs are used and with enhanced E&P activities in deeper waters within Indonesia, it is envisaged that different types and sizes of OSVs may have to be added to complement our existing fleet,” Lee added.

Meanwhile, Singapore-listed Nam Cheong announced it has secured orders to build five OSVs for BBR as part of the proposed investment.