Struggling Italian ferry company Moby Group has issued a new restructuring proposal to creditors that will include selling vessels and property assets and the disposal of a tug subsidiary.
Majority owner Vincenzo Onorato will inject €2m in cash to facilitate creditor payments.
The vessels earmarked for sale are the 36,300-gt ropax Moby Aki (built 2005), the 36,100-gt ropax Moby Wonder (built 2001), the 32,300-gt ropax Moby Tommy (built 2002), the 22,100-gt ro-ro Pietro Manunta (built 1991), and the 12,800-gt ro-ro Giuseppe Sa (built 1975).
Moby will also sell properties in Milan and Olbia.
A tentative sale of Moby’s 16-vessel tugboat division to compatriot Rimorchiatori Riuniti Panfido has been lined up and will be concluded immediately after creditors approve the proposal.
Moby said on Tuesday that the plan “is based on business continuity, on the maintenance of jobs and on the preservation of existing routes”.
The outfit claimed the vessel sales would have little impact on its fleet, which currently comprises of 15 ropaxes, six ro-ros and a high-speed ferry.
The company said the plan did not affect its orders for two 69,500-gt cruise ferries that are under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard International in China. The two 2,500-passenger, LNG-ready ships are scheduled for delivery in 2022.
Moby added that the plan “has been devised considering the positive results recorded in the last year”, and the arrival of the two Chinese newbuildings.
Moby’s financial problems emerged in late 2019 when it revealed that it did not have sufficient liquidity to cover the semi-annual coupon payments on its bonds and a €50m loan amortisation payment that had been due in mid-February.
The company had burned through €116m of its cash reserves during the first nine months of 2019, leaving it with a cash balance of €56m, and a fully drawn €60m revolving credit facility.
The company blamed its financial crisis on “an attack by a group of bondholders who filed a bankruptcy petition, then rejected by the Milan Court, in September”.
A restructuring plan submitted in March 2020 was rejected by bondholders and creditors over concerns over how new money would be raised from third parties.
Moby said on Tuesday that the prerequisite for recovery was “a rigorous action plan put into place by management over the last year, which envisaged a series of measures to contain costs, increase market shares and the disposal of certain assets and thus created the conditions for submitting a solid and sustainable plan to creditors”.
