Refinanced

The Singapore office of Watson, Farley and Williams LLP has advised Standard Chartered Bank in relation to a USD 21 million loan facility provided to Contender Marine Ltd. for the purpose of re-financing part of the existing indebtedness of HDG Marine Ltd (the parent company of Contender Marine Ltd) pursuant to a bridging facility advanced by Standard Chartered Bank to HDG Marine Ltd. Continue Reading

Restructuring Debt Securities Under U.S. Law – Navigating the Economic Crisis in 2009

By Alexandros Aldous, Watson, Farley & Williams

During the upswing of the previous business cycle, an abundance of surplus capital led to a variety of financing opportunities such as “covenant light” bank loans and easy to price public debt instruments.  Now, however, the credit crunch has affected all markets in a very powerful way, including the secondary market for debt securities.  As exhibited in the accompanying chart, since March 2008, there has been a very significant decline in the value of both high-yield shipping bonds and high-yield bonds in general.  Given the significant decline in secondary market prices for debt over the course of the last year, and the flat secondary debt markets, this could present an opportune time for companies with outstanding public debt to restructure their debt obligations. Since they may lack opportunities to sell their debt on the secondary market at a desirable price, bondholders may be willing to assist companies in restructuring their debt to reflect the present economic situation, thus ensuring the greatest possible likelihood that they will be repaid.  The purpose of this article is to present restructuring options of debt securities under U.S. law.  These restructuring options, which have been applied to high-yield shipping bonds in the past, may reappear with greater frequency in 2009 and beyond, as some companies that have bonds outstanding will find it desirable, or even imperative to restructure their obligations.

Continue Reading

Dong Fang in DVB Financed Container Sale

A transaction from last month was announced this week whereby a syndicate of lenders led by DVB Bank financed the “sale and manage-back” of certain containers between the DCM Deutsche Capital Management AG group and Dong Fang International Investment Limited. Continue Reading

That Was The Week That Was

Marine Money’s flagship conference came to New York this week and if you were a kid you might refer to it as a three- ring circus. With the conference as the centerpiece, the week has become filled not only with the usual owner/banker meetings but formal presentations and the usual bevy of social events. The numbers are astounding with over 1,000 delegates registered this year, exceeding by far all previous years. In fact, as quickly as we printed a copy of the delegate list, we found it to be obsolete.

Continue Reading