Trouble

Pacific International Lines held an informal meeting with its creditors during which it said that:

– 2018 – 2020 have been challenging years for the container shipping industry, with the downturn further exacerbated by the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

– PIL is grateful for the support of its stakeholders, including Noteholders, during these challenging times, while it works with its advisors on normalising its financial situation;

– During this period, PIL had undertaken a comprehensive strategic review to explore every available solution to enhance business prospects, improve liquidity, and optimise its capital structure;

– The Company has also been in discussions with financial lenders on a debt reprofiling plan and entered into a principal and interest moratorium in Q2 2020;

– However, the global economy and market volatility continued to deteriorate amidst a COVID-19 induced recession. As such, PIL is facing tremendous strain on its liquidity, which threatens its ability to operate as a going concern;

– In order to recapitalise its business, PIL started discussions with Heliconia Capital Management Pte Ltd (“Investor” or “Heliconia”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited (“Temasek”), in May 2020, for an investment into the Company, as part of a broader, holistic comprehensive financing package. PIL eventually entered into exclusivity which we had then informed Noteholders of via a public announcement;

– Since then, PIL has exerted its utmost efforts over the past five months to negotiate a Final Restructuring Package with the Investor and PIL’s creditors, in order to reach a consensus on key terms that are supported by majority of its creditors, so that PIL may provide a meaningful update to Noteholders;

–––> The Final Restructuring Package includes a substantial investment from the Investor, which is to be undertaken in conjunction with the restructuring of PIL’s existing debt obligations in order to recalibrate PIL’s capital structure to a more sustainable level;

– Negotiations with the Investor and PIL’s financial lenders have completed, and PIL intends to implement the restructuring via a scheme of arrangement under section 210 of the Companies Act (“Scheme”);

– The Scheme application to Court for convening the scheme meeting to vote on the restructuring has been filed on 10 November 2020;

… the Investor is expected to own a majority economic interest in PIL. 

For more, please click here.

Comment on this article


You must be logged in to post a comment.