Law firm Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance has advised a syndicate comprising three banks on a restructuring, and eventual prepayment, of a loan facility in respect of four vessels, which have Sinosure covered bareboat charters with Pacific International Lines (PIL).
The facility was made to a subsidiary of PIL to part-finance four vessels bareboat-chartered to PIL. PIL's payment obligations under the relevant bareboat charters were insured by Sinosure. The proposed restructuring followed a number of payment defaults, on which Stephenson Harwood has been advising the banks since mid-2020.
The restructuring was part of a wider debt structuring exercise for a scheme of arrangement. This was to satisfy the conditions relating to the investment by Temasek Holdings' wholly-owned Heliconia Capital Management, which was granted a moratorium extension in March by the Singapore high court.
Stephenson Harwood subsequently assisted with multiple partial prepayments, and the discharge of all relevant securities, for the facilitation of the necessary vessel sales.
The Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance team comprised partner Martin Green, senior associate Pedram Norton and associate Nicole Carmen Tan. Singapore law advice was provided by partner Jason Yang, and associates Wei Liang Chang and Angeline Yap.