Two Singapore-based employees of accounting firm EY were appointed interim judicial managers of Ocean Tankers yesterday.
Ocean Tankers, one of the largest tanker companies in Southeast Asia, is owned by the Lim family which also owns Hin Leong Trading, a local oil trader placed under judicial management last month saddled with $3.8bn of debts.
The head of Ocean Tankers, Evan Lim, has written recently to the company’s creditors and counterparties, stressing the shipowner’s determination to keep operating despite the difficulties faced by its parent.
“Ocean Tankers has sought to reassure charterers and other business counterparties that it is a separate entity from Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd (“HLT”) and that it remains committed to continuing its business and performing its contractual obligations,” Lim wrote.
Many names in Singapore’s once mighty offshore community have gone down the judicial management route in recent years, which tends to serve as a long, drawn-out form of debt restructuring.
