November 18 - Rickmers Group has confirmed that Rickmers Maritime Singapore's bond coupon payment default has no impact on the financing of Rickmers Holding and its subsidiaries.
On November 15, Rickmers Trust Management, in its capacity as trustee manager of Rickmers Maritime, announced that Rickmers Maritime was not in a position to make the coupon payments due on that date to holders of the bond issued by the trust.
Trading of shares in Rickmers Maritime was subsequently halted after the trust asked for a suspension, as it was unable to demonstrate that it can continue as a going concern. Rickmers Trust Management said that it wanted trading suspended until the issue over the company's ongoing health is resolved.
In a statement, the Rickmers Group explained that Rickmers Holding and its subsidiaries have no common financing structures with Rickmers Maritime, stressing that its sources of finance are separate from one another.
The company statement added that the coupon payment default on the bond issued by Rickmers Maritime does not trigger any cross-defaults or events of default under the terms of Rickmers Holding and its subsidiaries' financing structures.
The statement continued: "Through the sale of all shareholdings in Rickmers Trust Management on October 17, 2016, Rickmers Maritime is no longer controlled by Rickmers Holding. From this time forward the equity method will be used to include Rickmers Maritime in the group's consolidated financial statements as a shareholding in an associated company."
Moreover, noted the group, the business activities of Rickmers Maritime and Rickmers Group are completely separate from one another.
"From an overall group perspective the Rickmers Group merely provides an insignificant volume of maritime services for the vessels operated by Rickmers Maritime. Furthermore there also is no operational impact on the vessels owned by Rickmers Group," concluded the statement.
The operations of Rickmers Group's subsidiaries - including Rickmers-Linie - are unaffected by Rickmers Maritime's default, said the group.
