Mermaid Subsea Services, a subsidiary of Mermaid Maritime in Thailand, has agreed to buy the pipelay and accommodation work barge Resiliant, formerly known as Swiber Conquest, from Singapore-based offshore and marine business Swiber Holdings for $7m.
The Panama-flagged vessel was built in 2005 and is currently chartered to Swiber Offshore Construction, a Swiber subsidiary, and sub-chartered to a third party working on an offshore construction project. Swiber estimates that the sale will result in a $46.7m loss based on the book value as of the end of March 2016.
“As the vessel has been mortgaged in favour of a financial institution under the loan facilities as security for the company’s obligations thereunder, the proposed disposal will enable the group to realise the value of the vessel and use the net proceeds from the proposed disposal towards partial repayment of the amounts owing to the financial institution under the loan facilities, thereby reducing the liabilities of the group as part of the group’s ongoing restructuring efforts,” Swiber said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.
In a separate filing, Mermaid added that the acquisition will allow Mermaid Subsea Service to further pursue opportunities related to decommissioning works in Thailand and the surrounding region.
