Altor: OW Bunker Management Not Responsible for Bankruptcy

Tor Krussell of Altor says there is no evidence that the OW Bunker Board made any decisions that led to the bankruptcy.

Swedish private equity fund Altor, former owner of now defunct OW Bunker, says that while the company's advisors have yet to examine a new 400 page report released as part of OW Bunker's bankruptcy proceedings, it notes that from its own investigations, OW Bunker's management was not responsible for the company's demise.

Tor Krusell, Head of Communications at Altor, also notes that it had not had any form of contact with the trustees regarding the preparation of the report.

The report, which was prepared by Søren Halling-Overgaard, a trustee in OW Bunker's bankruptcy proceedings, argues that Altor and OW Bunker executives were aware of certain business practices based on oil price speculation that eventually led to OW Bunker's bankruptcy, and this was purposely omitted from the company's IPO prospectus.

"We understand that you are seeking comments, it has understandably taken the trustees more than a year to make their analysis and deliver the report – please respect that we want to be able to be as diligent in reviewing their conclusions before giving any statements," Krusell wrote in an email to Danish news outlet DR, that has also been sent to Ship & Bunker.

"We do, however, note that since the bankruptcy, we have conducted an extremely thorough review of all facts available to us and have found no basis for any criticism of the prospectus and there was nothing to indicate that the Board of OW Bunker had information that could have prevented this tragic situation. Neither is there any evidence that the Board took any decisions that caused the bankruptcy."

Earlier this week Ship & Bunker reported that Halling-Overgaard believes OW Bunker bankruptcy could have been avoided.