Genting Hong Kong, the cruise ship subsidiary of Genting, has filed to appoint provisional liquidators following the collapse of its wholly-owned subsidiary, MV Werften, last week.
MV Werften filed for insolvency on January 10, bringing about HK$2.77bn ($355.6m/€310.2m/£259.2m) in default debts.
This stemmed from MV Werften’s failure to obtain €1.35bn in funding to manufacture Genting Hong Kong’s Global One cruise liner.
Since this filing, Genting Hong Kong has sought alternative forms of liquidation, including a USD$88m backstop from the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
This application was rejected on January 17. The week before, the company declared that there was “no guarantee” it could meet the financial obligations resulting from the insolvency if the drawdown was rejected.
Yesterday (January 18) Genting Hong Kong announced that it would “potentially” file for liquidation at the court of Bermuda later that day.
Today (January 19) the company declared that it filed a petition for the winding up of its business, along with a summons seeking joint provisional liquidators Mr. Edward Simon Middleton and Ms. Wing Sze Tiffany Wong of Alvarez and Marsal and Mr. Edward Alexander Niles Whittaker of R&H Services.
Genting Hong Kong also sought an order from Bermuda Court to appoint the liquidators to aid in the company’s financial recovery. A hearing for this is to take place in Bermuda Court on January 20.
In a statement Genting Hong Kong described the appointment of the joint liquidators as “essential”, adding that they could “maximise the chance of success of the financial restructuring”.
The company also provided further details on the resignations of non-executive directors Mr. Alan Howard Smith, Mr. Lam Wai Hon Ambrose and Mr. Justin Tan Wah Joo, which were announced yesterday.
Further to yesterday’s announcement the resignees have also stepped down from the company board. This is in response to the company’s pursuit of the provisional liquidators, who will likely manage the business affairs of the company if they are appointed.
The suspension of trading in Genting Hong Kong shares was put in place on January 18. This remains in place.
