Viking Supply Ships gets bondholder approval to restructure floaters

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, Sept. 15 – Viking Supply Ships A/S secured the needed holder votes to amend its senior floating-rate notes due 2017 at a meeting held Wednesday in Oslo.

There were enough holders to form a quorum, and the proposal obtained 98.26% of the votes, according to a company notice.

Accordingly, half of the outstanding par amount of the bonds will be converted to quoted class B shares in Viking Supply Ships A/S’ parent company, Viking Supply Ships AB, at SEK 1.5 per share, which amounts to a value of 55% of par.

The remaining half will be redeemed in cash at 35% of par.

As announced Aug. 31, the company reached an agreement with a bondholder committee for a revised proposal to restructure the bonds as part of a wider restructuring.

Under the restructuring, the issuer’s bonds and related interest coupon claims will be canceled.

The conversion price of SEK 1.5 per share is equal to the subscription price in the equity offering of the parent company as part of the group restructuring.

For the remainder to be redeemed in cash, the NOK 34,884,704.84 payment consists of NOK 34,078,894.02 to bondholders and NOK 805,810.83 for interest due June 21.

Bonds converted would be exchanged for 35,760,145 new shares including 826,032 new shares for interest due June 21.

The issuer holds NOK 191,324,087 principal amount of the bonds.

The company said on Aug. 29 that it had reached an agreement with a committee representing a majority of its outstanding bonds that finalizes the company’s total financial restructuring.

Under the agreement, $215 million of bank facilities will be extended to March 31, 2020.

Some charter party arrangements will be restructured.

The interest-bearing debt in the parent company will be reduced by about $50 million, including $43 million related to the subsidiary.

The parent company will complete a minimum $25.2 million equity issue, of which majority shareholder Kistefos AS will subscribe to shares. In addition, $6.6 million of equity will be issued in exchange for bonds.

The company said the agreement will give it a stable financial platform until 2020. In addition, Viking said the restructuring will allow it to increase focus on optimizing its operations and take full advantage of future commercial opportunities within its core business areas.

Swedbank Corporate Finance is financial adviser to the company.

The floaters were issued in 2012.

Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Viking is an offshore and icebreaking company in the Arctic and subarctic areas, as well as a provider of shipping services between the Baltic Sea and the continent.

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