EuropeFinance and InsuranceOffshore

Restructured Bourbon plans to offload nearly a quarter of its fleet

French offshore vessel owner Bourbon is coming out of reorganisation proceedings after its restructuring was approved by creditors and validated by the Commercial Court of Marseilles.

This decision allows Bourbon to complete a financial and capital restructuring of the group by the end of the year.

Bourbon says the agreements signed with creditors will see the group’s debt reduced by more than €1.5bn ($1.84bn) to €1.065bn ($1.3bn) via the conversion of debt to equity. Additionally, new financing of up to €150m will be provided and repayable over thee years.

Bourbon says it will also continue with its #BOURBONINMOTION strategic action plan which promotes the digitalisation of its fleet as well as reducing vessel operating costs and CO2 emissions. It will also continue to reduce the size of its fleet, targeting a fleet size of 350 by the end of 2021. Currently, Bourbon has a fleet of around 458 vessels.

Gaël Bodénès, chairman of Bourbon Maritime, commented: “The end of the reorganization proceedings with the restructuring of our debts is a major step in the transformation of the group. I would like to stress the decisive contribution of our shareholders as well as our creditors and I thank our customers who have continued to support and trust us. Finally, I would particularly like to thank the Bourbon teams who, for the past 3 years, have worked together to overcome the economic and health difficulties that our industry continues to face.

“We can now accelerate the deployment of our strategic action plan, both in terms of overhauling our operational and commercial structure as well as in terms of deploying new services. Bourbon is ready to face the challenges of the industry, the team is more committed than ever to our clients!”

Grant Rowles

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.
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