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Farstad stops paying interest to creditors

Farstad Shipping’s takeover by Siem, first announced on November 24, has yet to be finalised. As a result Farstad has announced it will stop paying interest and amortisations to its creditors from today.

“Constructive discussions are currently being carried out with all affected creditors,” Farstad said in a release, adding that the “vast majority” of its creditors have confirmed that they will not enforce payment against Farstad at the moment. All suppliers and trade creditors will be paid as per normal, Farstad stressed.

Kristian Siem announced last month he will take over Farstad Shipping in the latest wave of consolidation sweeping the Norwegian OSV scene.

Under the terms of the agreement, Farstad will issue a minimum of 702m ordinary shares for a total subscription of minimum NOK1bn ($117m) at a price per share of approximately NOK1.4245.

Siem will underwrite NOK1bn of the cash issue, and subscribe for and be allocated a minimum number of new shares so that Siem owns 50.1% of the shares in Farstad, post restructuring.
Farstad’s head office will remain in Ålesund.

Kristian Siem has been one of Norway’s leading champion consolidators in the offshore scene in the past 18 months.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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