Fairstar Heavy Transport signs USD 247 million fleet finance facility with a Dutch banking syndicate led by ING Bank
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Fairstar Heavy Transport N.V. (FAIR) has signed a USD 247 million syndicated
loan facility led by ING Bank. The facility provides the necessary liquidity to
satisfy the outstanding payment obligations to Guangzhou Shipbuilding
International (GSI) due under the construction contracts for the 50,000 DWT
semi-submersible vessels FORTE and FINESSE. In addition, the facility provides
Fairstar with a USD 20 million tranche for the performance bonds required under
the Gorgon, Ichthys and Golden Eagle contracts.
Ingmar den Blanken, Treasurer of Fairstar negotiated the deal with the banks and
provided the following additional details, "The facility has a one year term and
is priced for the first nine months at LIBOR plus 400 basis points, rising to
LIBOR plus 600 basis points after nine months. In addition to providing the
funds we need to pay our obligations for the FORTE and FINESSE, it re-finances
the current loans we have with HSH Nordbank and ABN AMRO. The banks will hold
first mortgages over the Fairstar fleet once funding has been made. While the
terms are not nearly as attractive as the DNB Bank facility we signed last year,
in light of the recent disruption to our business caused by Dockwise, we are
pleased to be able to satisfy our obligations to GSI as well as our obligations
to our "red box" clients."
Philip Adkins, Chief Executive Officer of Fairstar provided further elaboration:
"We were very clear to the market last week that the payments we are obliged to
make will be made and the performance bonds we are obliged to issue will be
issued. At Fairstar, we keep our promises. Fairstar is a very valuable company.
It is clear to the market that Dockwise has been trying to talk down the value
of our business in order to acquire it at the cheapest possible price. Their
most recent tactic was to suggest in their stock exchange release that Fairstar
was unable to honour our financial commitments. Behind the scenes, they have
also tried to intimidate our Directors and mislead our clients. We continue to
believe that hostile and dirty tactics are not in the best interests of creating
value for all of our stakeholders. The fact that they exploited the financial
instability of one of our large shareholders (Oceanus) and the naiveté of others
in order to acquire a large stake in Fairstar, before making their intentions
public, has nothing to do with the value of our business. More importantly, the
accretive value of our business to Dockwise has been completely overlooked in
their Offer Document. We have invited representatives of Dockwise to meet with
Fairstar and discuss in a constructive way how best to end the current hostile
stalemate. Now that our financial obligations have been met, Dockwise must be
prepared to address the facts that 46% of our shareholders have not accepted the
NOK 9.3 "offer" and Fairstar's shares have been consistently trading above that
level since the attack on Fairstar began. Our clients have been very
uncomfortable with the tactics that have been used by our competitor. It seems
inappropriate to suggest to our partners that Fairstar needs to be saved by
Dockwise. I am certain our clients knew what they were doing when they chose to
award almost USD 300 million in contracts to Fairstar. The Fairstar Boards are
preparing a formal rebuttal to the Offer Document that is now in circulation. In
the meantime our invitation for a constructive dialog goes unanswered."
For further information please contact:
Philip Adkins, CEO (philip.adkins(at)fairstar.com)
Ingmar den Blanken, Treasurer (ingmar.den.blanken(at)fairstar.com)
Web: www.fairstar.com
Tel: +31 (0)10-403 5333
*****
Profile Fairstar Heavy Transport:
Fairstar Heavy Transport N.V. is a leading provider of marine heavy transport
solutions, specializing in high-value cargoes for the offshore and onshore
energy and construction industries. Fairstar owns and operates two of the most
modern semi-submersible heavy transport ships in the global fleet, FJORD and
FJELL. The 50,000DWT, open-stern semi-submersible vessels FORTE and FINESSE are
currently under construction with Guangzhou Shipbuilding International in China
and will be owned and operated by Fairstar when they are delivered in May and
October of 2012 respectively. Fairstar is based in Rotterdam and quoted on the
Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: FAIR).
Press Release (PDF):
http://hugin.info/143837/R/1613429/513776.pdf
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originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Fairstar Heavy Transport NV via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1613429]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 21.05.2012 - 07:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 148287
Anzahl Zeichen: 5549
contact information:
Town:
ROTTERDAM
Kategorie:
Business News
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