SINGAPORE: Rickmers Group has disposed of its entire 34.2 percent stake in Rickmers Trust Management, the trustee-manager of Rickmers Maritime, the troubled Singapore-listed container ship charter owner.
The German shipping company’s stake has been sold to Brick Holding International, which is owned by Bertram Rickmers, the chairman of Rickmers Trust Management.
“Due to the sale of all shares in the managing vehicle of Rickmers Maritime, the latter is no longer a fully consolidated subsidiary of Rickmers Holding AG. However, Rickmers Holding still holds 34.2 percent of the shares in Rickmers Maritime,” Hamburg-based Rickmers Group said. The deal is not expected to have any material impact on the management and operations of the trustee and the trust, the group said.
The share sale comes on the eve of an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Oct. 31, at which bondholders will vote on a controversial restructuring plan. The plan includes the issue of 1.32 billion new shares, a lower payout on bonds maturing next May, and the deferment of the maturity of some of the bonds to 2023.
The meeting will also consider a resolution to authorise the trustee-manager of Rickmers Maritime to wind up the trust should it be necessary.
A successful restructuring would enable Rickmers Maritime to obtain a new amortising term loan facility of up to $260.2 million from a consortium of banks, including HSH Nordbank, to refinance $197.7 million and $67.8 million of the trust’s current outstanding debt repayable in 2017 and 2018.
