Norwegian investor Christen Sveaas is considering legal action against several players who were involved in the restructuring of the shipowner Solstad Offshore.
Solstad Offshore, together with Kjell Inge Røkke-controlled Aker and AMSC have been informed of the possible lawsuit by Sveaas’ investment vehicle Kistefos.
The company is looking to claim compensation for the alleged loss incurred as a result of the refinancing in October last year.
Back then Solstad Offshore struck a refinancing deal for its fleet of NOK9.7bn ($879.5m) worth of loans with Aker, AMSC, DNB and Eksfin in October. As a result, Solstad Maritime was set up with NOK4bn of new equity and Aker contributed at least NOK2.25bn and guaranteeing a further NOK750m, while Aker-dominated AMSC, contributed the owning entity for the CSV Normand Maximus in exchange for NOK1bn of new shares in the company.
The transaction gave Aker, together with the Røkke group, about 60% of the new Solstad, where 35 of Solstad Offshore’s 43 ships were transferred. The existing Solstad Offshore retained around 27% ownership of the new company, while its existing shareholders, excluding Aker, received subscription rights to participate in the NOK750m private placement of new shares, corresponding to around 13.6% stake.
Sveaas came out strong against the scheme saying it involved gross discrimination of shareholders and enriched Aker at the expense of the shareholder community, describing it as “one of the riskiest transactions seen on the Oslo Stock Exchange”.
In December, Kistefos, as one of the largest shareholders in Solstad Offshore, demanded an extraordinary general meeting to consider legal action against the board of Solstad Offshore, and chairmen and general managers of Aker Capital and AMSC, but that was withdrawn in January this year.
Reportedly, Kistefos’ next move is to structure the lawsuit as a class action, which would open the door for other Solstad shareholders to join. The three companies that could get involved said in a filing that they maintain that “any such lawsuit would be without merit”.
