The board of directors of debt-laden offshore vessel owner DOF has decided to submit a new proposal for a restructuring plan to the reconstructor and its financial creditors.
The plan, which has already received support from DOF’s largest shareholder, Møgster Offshore, with a 31.6% stake, would see the current shareholders left with 3.75% of DOF after the restructuring.
DOF said the proposal was identical to the previous proposal, which was voted down in November last year and would have meant that shareholders would own 4% of the shares in the company.
“The board would have liked to see the shareholders retain a larger share of the company than the reconstruction suggests. If it had been possible to turn back the clock and restart negotiations with the creditors today, this might have been possible. However, it is a fact that the DOF Group has approximately NOK25bn in debt on which, for the most part, neither interest nor instalments have been paid for more than two years,” said Leif Salomonsen, chairman of DOF.
If the proposal is not adopted, there will be no prospect that the company with a fleet of nearly 60 offshore support vessels will be able to achieve a reconstruction and the court will most likely open bankruptcy after a report from the reconstruction committee.
DOF noted that business would continue to operate as it does today through the subsidiary DOF Service and its underlying companies, but that shareholder value would in all likelihood be lost.
“We are already in overtime and need a solution now. The company has been living at the mercy of its creditors for a long time. With the board’s proposal, the existing shareholders will own 3.75% of a strengthened DOF ASA, the company will continue its operations and the shareholders will participate in the value creation that many expect will take place in the time to come,” added Salomonsen.
