Different Means, Same End

There are a number of similarities between Marco Polo Marine and Otto Marine. Both are Singapore listed and have their ship chartering and shipbuilding businesses focused on tugboats and barges. Coincidentally, both revealed plans to raise more capital in the past two weeks, but in different ways.

Last Wednesday, Marco Polo Marine announced its disposal of 8 vessels to a related party on a sale-and-leaseback arrangement for SGD 11.9 million (USD 8.48 million). The company explained that this arrangement would serve two purposes. Firstly, this reduces the company’s gearing level and improves cash flow while maintaining the fleet size without the loss of commercial and operational control. Secondly, this circumvents the restriction faced by company in operating Indonesian flagged vessels. The company is not allowed to own Indonesian flagged vessels (since only Indonesians can do so) and the sale-and-leaseback arrangement will enable the company to operate Indonesian flagged vessels freely in Indonesian waters.

This is only an excerpt of Different Means, Same End

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