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DOMESTIC shipping company’s unpaid debts to the
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. have been transferred to
a Liberian company, a move intended to clean up the
balance sheets of the Philippine’s second-largest oil
company.
Court
documents indicate that Shell has transferred all its
rights and interests in Negros Navigation’s (Nenaco)
outstanding restructured debt to Monrovia-based Sea
Maritime Corp.
Last
December, the said company acquired a Nenaco vessel, the
MV St. Exekiel Moreno for $1.67 million, or an estimated
P80 million at the time of the sale. Built in 1973, the
vessel weighs 5,342 gross registered tons.
“The
deed of assignment [without recourse] was agreed upon
and executed with notice to, and the conformity of,
Nenaco through its chairman and chief executive officer,
Sulficio O. Tagud Jr. and the court-appointed
rehabilitation receiver, Atty. Monico Jacob,” according
to the manifestation filed by Shell.
The
court has approved the transfer.
Documents said that Nenaco, one of the Philippines’
oldest shipping companies, owed Shell a secured loan of
P220.63 million with the MV St. Exekiel Moreno as
collateral.
According to Nenaco’s rehabilitation plan, proceeds from
the vessel sale would go immediately to Shell.
However,
after the transaction, the oil company decided to sell
all its interest in Nenaco’s debt to Sea Maritime.
Once a
major industry player, Nenaco in 2004 was given court
approval to stop paying its debts for 10 years.
Estimated at P2.4 billion, Nenaco’s obligations include
P1 billion in bank loans.
Among
its creditors are the Development Bank of the
Philippines, Equitable-PCI Bank, which was merged with
Banco de Oro; Prudential Bank and Trust Co., which was
acquired by the Bank of the Philippine Islands; and
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the country’s largest
lender in terms of assets.
In its
March 31 report, Nenaco said that its total restructured
debt, excluding those of its former owner Metro Pacific
Corp. was at P1.7 billion. An estimated 60 percent of
Nenaco’s obligations—amounting to P953.4 million—already
have settlement agreements with the company while the
rest are still in progress.
For its
part, the company’s receiver report said that Nenaco’s
earnings from January to February increased to P114.33
million, reversing the previous year’s losses of about
P24 million.
In
January, the company was able to sell MV Princes of
Negros, built in 1972 and weighs 4,494 gross registered
tonnage for about $1 million. It plans to sell two more
of its ships—the MV Mary the Queen of Peace and the MV
San Lorenzo Ruiz—later this year to pay part of its
debts and buy new vessels. |
