The future of Singapore offshore vessel operator Marco Polo Marine has been thrown into serious doubt, after the company said that a restructuring and refinancing proposal announced last month had met resistance from its lenders.
Marco Polo said that it has actively engaged its bank and financial institutions regarding the proposal, which includes fresh funding from strategic investors, however the setback means it is not confident it would be able to bridge the gap between the expectations of the lenders and the conditions set by the strategic investors as part of the restructuring.
Due to the stalling of negations, the Marco Polo board has suspended trading of the company’s shares on the Singapore Exchange.
Marco Polo said that it is has been receiving an increasing number of reservation of rights letters and demand letters, including a statutory demand, from creditors.
Several offshore vessel operators in Singapore have run into financial difficulties with Swiber Holdings, Swissco and Ezra Holdings all succumbing to the prolonged offshore downturn. Swiber and Swissco are both currently under judicial management while Ezra filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
