Rickmers Trust Management Pte. Ltd., in its capacity as trustee- manager (the &ldquo
Trustee- Manager&rdquo ) of
Rickmers Maritime (the &ldquo
Trust&rdquo ), wishes to announce that it was served at the close of business on
Friday 12 May 2017 with an originating summons from a single individual noteholder (the &ldquo
Plaintiff&rdquo ),
Mr. Kwok Kian Tow Peter, holding
S$250,000 of the above Notes seeking an injunction to stop the
sale of the vessels owned by the Trust to Navios Partners Containers Inc. and Navios Partners
Containers Finance Inc. which was announced on 21 April 2017 (the &ldquo
Navios transaction&rdquo ). The
hearing is fixed for Monday morning on 15 May 2017.
The Plaintiff has not previously communicated with the Trustee- Manager as to this matter and the
injunction application was completely unanticipated by the Trust.
The Trustee- Manager is of the view that the injunction application is wrongful and seriously
jeopardises the unsecured creditors&rsquo partial recovery of their investment. Under the terms of the trust
deed establishing the Notes (&ldquo
Notes Trust Deed&rdquo ), only the Notes Trustee namely DB International
Trust (Singapore) Limited can take legal action on behalf of the noteholders. The Plaintiff has by-
passed the Notes Trustee in making this application on his own and in doing so, he has violated the
terms of the Notes Trust Deed. This is unprecedented in the history of the bond market in Singapore
and, if allowed, will disrupt the bond market processes, negate its longstanding legal foundations and
open up a floodgate for individual noteholders to commence disruptive legal action on their own,
completely disregarding the terms of the Notes Trust Deed.
In his application for the injunction,
the Plaintiff also seeks to be exempted from an undertaking as to
damages to be provided to the court in case the injunction is found to be wrongful. This is highly
unorthodox and would seriously and irreparably harm the orderly winding up process of the Trust if
the injunction is to proceed against all known norms.
The Trustee- Manager has continuously engaged noteholders and through emails, meetings and SGX
announcements explained all the necessary steps taken in the failed attempt to restructure the debt of
the Trust. The original restructuring proposal that was presented to the noteholders clearly explained
that if the restructuring proposal was rejected by noteholders, there was little likelihood of any
repayment to the unitholders or the noteholders. Notwithstanding the transparency of the process,
and its consequences, the noteholders voted to reject the consent solicitation on 21 December 2016.
While the Trustee- Manager has made all reasonable efforts to find investors to salvage the Trust after
the rejection of the restructuring proposal by the noteholders, it was not able to do so, due to the
uncertainty of the noteholders supporting any subsequent proposals for debt reduction.
As the Trust is suffering an acute illiquidity situation and can obtain no sustainable relief or additional
financing to cover cash burn on laid- up, idle and spot trading vessels, it had no other options but to
proceed with the sale of its assets without delay in order to avoid liens and vessel arrests which would
be highly damaging to both secured and unsecured parties.
The Navios transaction, the value of which is supported by independent, third- party valuations, was
the only deal on the table that was imminently executable, thereby addressing the illiquidity of the
Trust. At the same time, the transaction monetizes future value up- front that may, in a disorderly or
protracted wind- up, be otherwise substantially reduced. Such sale, assuming it closes within a
reasonable amount of time (as is expected), will result in up- front cash recoveries, soon after closing,
of approximately between 8 percent to 10 percent to unsecured creditors payable through an escrow
arrangement comprising of some US$20 million from the sales proceeds and cash on hand, to the
extent said cash is not used to settle vessel payables and wind- up costs. The recoveries to the
unsecured creditors will be further reduced if there is further delay in the completion of the vessels
sale because a majority of these vessels are continuously burning cash for their operations which only
aggravates already existing operational accruals.
The manner in which the injunction is being sought, without relief for damages available to the Trust,
places the Trust and its unsecured creditors (including noteholders) in an untenable position, as the
Trust does not have cash to fund operations, and cannot dispose of assets either. The likely outcome
of this situation, if not resolved, is liens and vessel arrests, with potential resulting cargo claims,
distressed disposals and extensive legal costs. Therefore, the Trustee- Manager will be resisting the
injunction application vigorously.
The Trustee- Manager urges all secured creditors to remain calm and abide by current reservation of
rights arrangements and to specifically not foreclose on the Trusts&rsquo assets until this matter is resolved
as such foreclosures could potentially be value destroying to both secured and unsecured creditors.
The Trust will be unable to repay the principal of the Notes, nor interest, due 15 May 2017.
The Trustee- Manager will provide further update announcements on SGXNET, or via the creditors&rsquo
respective agents and Notes Trustee, as appropriate.
By Order of the Board of
Rickmers Trust Management Pte. Ltd.
as Trustee- Manager of
Rickmers Maritim
MarcPh ( Date: 14-May-2017 17:56) Posted:
Mr Kwok appears to be the right man.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=54017565& privcapId=12617492
Kian Tow Kwok, Peter, BA, MA (University of Cambridge) serves as an Executive Director of Endeavor Capital Partners Pte Ltd., a private equity venture capital and corporate advisory firm, based in singapore. Mr. Kwok has experience in turnaround of companies, mergers and acquisitions, portfolio management, property investments and in countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and china.
dyingcat ( Date: 14-May-2017 17:31) Posted:
| I support this noteholder if he voted for restructuring last Dec. If he didn't do this, he may not get anything back. We, uniholder, 一 盘 散 沙 , don't know know to defend our own rights and benefits. That's y sgx bears no responsibility despite many scandals n misleading nav leading to suspension or bankruptcy of listed companies here. In the end, only minor stakeholders like us suffer tens of thousands of hard earned money. |
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I support this noteholder if he voted for restructuring last Dec. If he didn't do this, he may not get anything back. We, uniholder, 一 盘 散 沙 , don't know know to defend our own rights and benefits. That's y sgx bears no responsibility despite many scandals n misleading nav leading to suspension or bankruptcy of listed companies here. In the end, only minor stakeholders like us suffer tens of thousands of hard earned money.
Yes, but the secured creditors will not be happy, think they will fight the delay...
Delay means rickmers will be burning cash with losses after losses and see the value of the vessels dropping and droppin UNLESS miracle happens and the vessel suddenly worth more.
So in the end, shareholders and noteholders thinking since we are down, we make sure secured creditors go down with us by delaying :)
MarcPh ( Date: 14-May-2017 16:56) Posted:
The sales of shipping assets will leave almost zero dollar for the noteholders and shareholders, the payout goes to the secured creditors, legal fees and payment of penalty interests.
Filing an injunction for the sales of shipping assets, gives the shareholders and noteholders another chance.
HazardKoh ( Date: 14-May-2017 16:45) Posted:
The bond holder holds only $250k of bond and he is delaying Rickmers sales of the vessels.
First, rickmers is making losses, the longer this drags on, the more $$$ rickmers is burning.
2nd, the buyer may just walk away with no other buyers, then rickmers will be stuck.
In the end, all parties die. So this bondholder is dragging all parties down. :) hahaha.. good or bad?
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The bond holder holds only $250k of bond and he is delaying Rickmers sales of the vessels.
First, rickmers is making losses, the longer this drags on, the more $$$ rickmers is burning.
2nd, the buyer may just walk away with no other buyers, then rickmers will be stuck.
In the end, all parties die. So this bondholder is dragging all parties down. :) hahaha.. good or bad?
MarcPh ( Date: 14-May-2017 15:16) Posted:
Good sharing Veteran,
it is obvious that the shipping assets are being offloaded at distressed prices.
Actually it is getting more complicated. Even Rickmers Maritime' s manager Rickers Group is going to force their bondholders to bear the brunt of restructuring in a vote scheduled two weeks later. Imagine the possibility of the Trustee-Manager becoming defunt in 2H17. So kuodos to Rickmers Maritimes' bondholder Mr Peter, Kowk Kian Tow, to seeking injunction for the fleet sale. This gentlemen knows his rights and stuff - I salute him.
granto ( Date: 14-May-2017 14:54) Posted:
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