Swiber gets interim court order to stop payment of bank guarantees

Punj Lloyd

08/08/2016 15:46

SINGAPORE, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Swiber Offshore Construction, 
part of troubled Singapore oilfield services firm Swiber 
Holdings  SWBR.SI , has received an interim court order to halt 
payment of bank guarantees for projects it was involved in, a 
stock exchange filing showed. 
    Parent company Swiber Holdings last month applied to place 
itself under judicial management, after initially filing for 
liquidation, becoming the largest local company to fall victim 
to the slump in oil prices. Judicial management allows for a 
company to be nursed back to health under the supervision of the 
Singapore Court  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1AF5J6. 
    Calling on the bank guarantees could further lower 
confidence in the company when the market is looking for signs 
of whether it has sufficient liquidity to survive the crisis. 
    India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd  ONGC.NS  
called on five bank guarantees of about $94.48 million and two 
others of about 644.2 million rupees ($9.7 million), of which 
one was paid out by the bank concerned, Swiber's interim 
judicial managers said in a statement on Monday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nSNZ3Cbr5B 
    The guarantee had a value of around $4.6 million and the 
bank involved was not named. 
    Indian engineering and construction firm Punj Lloyd Ltd 
 PUJL.NS  called on a $1.475 million bank guarantee provided for 
two projects, which has been paid out by the bank, the statement 
said.  
    Swiber Offshore Construction notified both ONGC and Punj 
Lloyd that their calls were made wrongfully and filed several 
petitions for injunctions against the payment of the bank 
guarantees. 
    It obtained an interim court order on Aug. 4 instructing the 
banks to hold back on any payment of the bank guarantees until 
the next hearing date for the applications for injunctions, 
presently fixed for Aug. 11. 
    In addition, Swiber Holdings and its subsidiaries have also 
received a total of $99 million worth of claims as of Aug. 4, 
the filing showed. The company is taking legal advice on the 
claims, it said. 
    ($1 = 66.8135 Indian rupees) 
 
 (Reporting By Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Keith Weir) 
 ((aradhana.aravindan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6403 5659; Reuters 
Messaging: aradhana.aravindan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SWIBER HOLDINGS RESTRUCTURING/BANK GUARANTEES