Neptune sells Neptune Trident vessel to Wintermar
Tuesday, April 19 2011 - 02:37 AM WIB
Australian-listed shipping firm Neptune Marine Services Limited announced Tuesday that its wholly owned Singapore subsidiary, Neptune Marine Pacific Pte Ltd (Neptune Pacific), has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Indonesian listed shipping firm PT Wintermar Offshore Marine group, for the sale of the Neptune Trident vessel.
Under the terms of the agreement Neptune Pacific will sell the vessel for a total consideration of US$14.025 million. The proceeds will allow Neptune to eliminate outstanding term debt, the company said in statement.
Neptune?s Acting CEO, Robin King, said the sale of the Neptune Trident was an important component of the company?s ongoing restructuring initiatives that are focused on returning the business to profitability.
?Concurrently, we are investigating the establishment of an operational agreement with Wintermar that would provide for collaboration and the potential for Neptune to utilise the vessel on future projects,? he added.
The sale value achieved for the Neptune Trident falls within the $12-$15 million valuation range that is indicative of current market rates. The Neptune Trident has a written down value of $21.5 million giving rise to a loss on sale of approximately $7.5 million that will be recorded in the current half year report.
Completion of the sale is scheduled for May 2011.
The Neptune restructuring program remains ongoing with further asset and business sales, reductions in overheads and additional strengthening/renewal of the Board expected. (romel)