Another Italian shipownbing company has found itself on Deutsche Bank’s radar for investment.
Following the cases of RBD Armatori and Gestioni Armatoriali, the German bank has just purchased from Unicredit the non-performing loans of Rome-based Finaval which are worth some $40m sources told Splash.
Two years ago Deutsche Bank purchased financial exposure from Commerzbank valued at around $32m and so now has become Finaval’s main creditor controlling $73m of exposure out of a total of roughly $180m.
Finaval, which is 75% owned by Giovanni Fagioli’s holding company FH Spa and 25% by the oil trader Vitol, owns a fleet 11 vessels (7 MRs and 3 oil tankers) with three of them jointly owned (50-50) with Ancora Shipping of Greece.
In 2014 the company obtained the approval from its banks for a debt-restructuring plan primarily based on the postponement of debt repayments. Due to worsening market conditions and investments necessary to be compliant with new ballast water regulations, the company’s top management asked for a standstill agreement on the loans and has presented a new restructuring plan still to be approved by the banks.
Fagioli is negotiating with Deutsche Bank the terms of the restructuring while waiting for normal approval of their plans from other banks involved, mainly Monte Paschi Siena and Gruppo BPM.
