Three closed OW Bunker companies pay creditors major sum
May 24, 2022
ShippingWatch
Types : In the News
Lawyers have finished cleaning up three bankrupt OW Bunker subsidiaries in the US, and so the US Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut has decided to close the case and allow a large million-dollar sum to be paid to creditors.
The US Bankruptcy Court ruled on May 11, giving the liquidators – the US lawyers – 60 days to pay the amount, the decision reads.
The three former OW Bunker companies in the US are part of the OW Bunker group, which went public in 2014 and collapsed just eight months later deep in debt in November 2014.
The law firm behind the clean-up of the three US OW Bunker companies tells ShippingWatch that creditors of the companies will receive a total of USD 23.5m.
”When final distributions [repayments, -ed.] are made, OW Bunker USA and its affiliate OW Bunker North America will have distributed about USD 23.5m to their creditors,” writes Robert E. O’Connor, managing partner at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, in an email to ShippingWatch.
Money may be coming to Danish bankruptcy estate
The creditors of the US OW Bunker companies, according to the law firm, are former employees, banks, bunker traders, bunker suppliers, oil barge owners, tanker terminals ”and other OW Bunker entities.”
In other words, there is probably also money on the way to the Danish bankruptcy estate.
ShippingWatch has reached out to trustee Søren Halling-Overgaard for a comment on the US decision, but he has not returned a call.
According to O’Connor, ING Bank was the largest creditor with a USD 700m loan to the companies secured by the OW Bunker group.
”The case was enjoyable to work because it presented new issues under maritime and bankruptcy laws,” writes O’Connor.
It has not been possible to ascertain the size of the deficit (total credit claims) of OW Bunker Holding North America Inc, OW Bunker North America and OW Bunker USA.
To read the full article, click here.