OW Bunker Norway Subsidiary Bergen Bunkers Receives $567M Claim

Trustee Laastad has dismissed the claim

Norwegian OW Bunker subsidiary Bergen Bunkers AS (Bergen Bunkers) has received a NOK4.4 billion ($567 million) claim from a consortium of 13 banks, Norwegian media reports.

The claim by the consortium, including Danske Bank, Nordea, UBS, and Société Générale, is understood to have been immediately dismissed by the bankruptcy estate for Bergen Bunkers.

"The bank consortium's claim is based on an alleged surety for OW Bunker Group borrowing, but there is no trace of this alleged responsibility in Bergen Bunkers's financial statements for 2013," said trustee Arne Laastad.

"Bergen Bunkers has acted on credit and sold on credit, so that the whole business is based on confidence in the market.

"Then it is a paradox that such surety is not disclosed in the financials."

But Kaare P. Svedrup, partner at law firm Wiersholm, said that while mention of such a contingent liability should have been mentioned in the accounts, its absence does not mean no liability exists.

Separately, the estate has been sued for smaller amounts by creditors and arbitrations are said to be underway.

Tanker company Frontline Management AS is understood to be claiming NOK6.6 million ($851,000) which the estate disputes.

The Bergen Bunkers estate is said to be pursuing NOK365 million ($47 million) from the company's debtors but Laastad suggested that direct claims from third parties, which carry the threat of arrest for debtors' ships, are making this task difficult.

"I think a significant amount can be paid into the bankruptcy estate, but we are working on this now and I would not anticipate any sum," said Laastad.

OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy in November, and Ship & Bunker recently published a detailed, four-part analysis of the events that led to their downfall.