Asia/Pacific News
Brightoil Faces Liquidation After Winding Up Order Filed Against its Hong Kong-Listed Entity
Brightoil's precarious financial situation looks to have taken a turn for the worse.
Reports from China indicate the beleaguered bunker and petroleum products player is now facing the prospect of liquidation after a winding-up petition was filed for its Hong Kong-listed entity by a company called Broad Action.
How that company is connected to Brightoil is unclear, but such a petition can be filed by a creditor, a shareholder, or the firm itself.
The petition will be heard on March 6 and if approved the company's assets will be sold off to repay its debts, the total of which is currently unclear, South China Morning Post reports.
Brightoil has so far not commented on the development, although the report notes local rules require its immediate disclosure.
Shares in the company have been suspended for over a year after it failed to file its 2016 financials. Financials for 2017 are also still outstanding.
Then last November the company's operations in Singapore were hit with a winding up order of its own and its entire fleet of bunker tankers placed under arrest.
Earlier this month, two of its tankers, Brightoil Lion, a 107,518 dtw 2010-built Aframax, and Brightoil Glory, a 318,000 dwt 2012-built VLCC, were also arrested in Singapore.
A notice posted last week by PRC's Haikou Maritime Court indicates another Brightoil VLCC, Brightoil Gem, has been detained at China's island province of Hainan following a request by a French bank looking to recover debts of $43 million on a loan of $45.5 million.
VesselValues.com assess the current market price of the VLCC at $69.97 million.
"Private oil companies in China are running into difficult situations," SCMP quoted a banker familiar with the matter as saying.
