–
A group of shareholders in the crisis-stricken supply company Dof has for several months challenged the management’s work to restructure the debt and save the company, with a stated goal of preventing small owners from being treated unfairly and postponing the entire restructuring.
Now they have reached the goal of acquiring a third of the shares in the company, and say they can thus block any solution proposed by the company. “Dof minority group,” as the group calls itself, now owns 34 percent of the shares, it writes in a stock exchange announcement on Friday.
– At this passage, the group has negative control, it is said in the short notifications.
Overall, the group is thus larger than the company’s largest shareholder, Helge Møgsters Møgster Offshore with 31.6 per cent of the shares.
The shipping company and its subsidiary Dof Subsea have for a long time been in talks with creditors to restructure the debt, which amounts to a total of more than NOK 18 billion, including bank debt and bonds. The group has been in difficulty in recent years, after the oil price collapse in 2014 led to a sharp decline in the entire oil service industry.
– Have confidence in the management
The minority group was established in August last year. In a blog The group has written that it demands equal treatment of all shareholders, and argued that debt restructuring should be postponed, partly because an improvement in the market will give the company a better hand.
–
One of the initiators, Jon Magne Asmyr, tells Dagens Næringsliv that the group currently has confidence in the board and management and the process they conduct with the creditors.
– We are all in the same boat. Therefore, it is important for us to emphasize that we have confidence that the management will come up with a good solution, he says.
– But if you vote down a rescue proposal, then the alternative can quickly become bankrupt?
– We do not think there is any alternative at all, for those who lose the most then, it is the banks and creditors.
Will not comment
Dof’s CFO Hilde Drønen will not comment on the flag message or say anything about what it means for the restructuring work. She points to one statement the company joined a stock exchange announcement this autumn, after the minority group had bought up to 20 percent. Here, Dof warned the minority shareholders that they risk losing large amounts of value when the debt is restructured and converted into equity at the expense of the current owners.
“A robust, long-term solution is needed,” Dof wrote at the time. “There are no market developments or changes in the group’s prospects that support a different conclusion, and shareholders are encouraged to take this into account when considering other alternatives.”
Dof also rejected that the negotiations with the creditors contain talks about the supply of new capital through a share issue, or different treatment of current shareholders.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
–
