Nordic Trustee, acting as a bond trustee for a bond issued by Harkand Finance, has exercised its right to terminate charters for two Harkand’s vessels.
In a filing on Oslo Bors on Tuesday, Nordic Trustee said that the Bond Trustee has exercised its right to terminate the internal bareboat charters for the vessels Harkand Da Vinci and Harkand Atlantis.
“The Bond Trustee has for now not declared the Bonds to be due for immediate payment“ the trustee said, however it added it reserved all rights and remedies which the bondholders and the bond trustee may have.
Harkand Finance is part of the Harkand Group, which owns and charters vessels in support of offshore oil and gas operations.
The company issued the Bonds to the Bondholders on 28 March 2014 and used the proceeds of the Bonds ($230 million) to finance (in part) the purchase price of the two diving support vessels.
However, citing challenging market environment, Harkand on March 21 sad that the interest payment to bondholders, due 28 March 2016, will not be paid due to insufficient liquidity.
Earlier in March, Nordic Trustee declared the bonds to be in default and replaced the board of directors of the company its two subsidiaries Harkand Atlantis Inc. and Harkand Da Vinci Inc.
Regarding the two vessels, Harkand last month said it won a multi-million pound contract with Maersk Oil North Sea to deliver subsea support services to the operator including a commissioning support campaign for the Flyndre development located in the south-eastern part of the Central Graben Basin in the North Sea.
Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Harkand, seeking more info on the faith of the two vessels, and on the status of the contract with Maersk Oil.
In an e-mail sent to Offshore Energy Today, Harkand chief executive officer John Reed said: “Market conditions within the global oil and gas industry remain extremely challenging. Harkand is taking proactive steps to secure its financial position in order to emerge from the downturn with a robust global business.
“We are working closely with our investors and financial institutions in order to provide a sustainable platform from which to develop the company and continue with our strategic growth plans.”
Reed did not go into specifics on the next steps for the two vessels, nor on the status of the Maersk Oil contract.
Offshore Energy Today Staff