The creditors of the Oslo-listed offshore vessel owner DOF have moved to place the company into bankruptcy proceedings.
DOF said in a regulatory filing that its board met persistent opposition from a group of shareholders and could not obtain sufficient support for debt restructuring after which the creditors concluded that “there is no basis for a reconstruction.”
The creditors have at the same time confirmed that they are ready to enter into an agreement with the bankruptcy estate to acquire DOF Services and its subsidiaries and thereby facilitate that the restructuring will be implemented as planned while the other companies in the Group would remain unaffected by the bankruptcy in DOF.
Based on the valuations of the company’s fleet by the shipbrokers Fearnleys and Clarksons and other assets from the auditing and consulting firm Deloitte, DOF’s board concluded that the company would be insolvent in the event of bankruptcy.
The company’s new board, set up just a little over a month ago on the initiative of a large group of minority investors who revolted against the previous restructuring plan, proposed almost an identical scheme, but instead of 4%, the shareholders would end up with 3.75% of DOF.
As the majority was not secured, the Hordaland district court resolved on Thursday to open bankruptcy proceedings upon which the company’s share capital will be lost and no value will be left to the shareholders.
“The board highly regrets this result. However, although the bankruptcy will result in shareholder losses, the process that will follow is structured to avoid any interruption to the ongoing operations of the Group and to avoid losses for the Group’s customers, suppliers and other trade creditors,” DOF said, adding that its employees would not be affected.
