Tue 10/13/2020 09:12 AM
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Fortress Investment Group, Clessidra Sgr and Europa Investimenti are among funds discussing with Italian ferry operator Moby about a possible new money provision amid the group’s financial restructuring, sources told Reorg. The process is evolving but nothing has been decided yet.

Moby has been in talks with some investment funds for a deal designed to potentially unlock a stalemate with creditors, as reported. The funds would be willing to provide new money to the group or, alternatively, buy its bonds and subsequently close a financial restructuring agreement with the company and its banks, according to sources. Continue reading for the EMEA Core Credit team's coverage of Moby's upcoming financial restructuring negotiations, and request a trial to access reporting and analysis on hundreds of other credits.

The vast majority of Moby’s fleet is pledged as a collateral against the company’s bank debt and €300 million notes. Excluded from the notes’ collateral are certain vessels which have minimal value and vessels Silvia Onorato, Vigore and Barletta each owned by Moby’s subsidiary San Cataldo, according to the notes’ offering memorandum.

As reported, a small block of about €2.4 million of Moby’s €300 million senior secured notes traded at about 20 a couple of weeks ago.

The company has to present a restructuring proposal by Oct. 28 but it is expected to request a 60 days’ extension to the Milan Tribunal, where it filed for creditor protection under concordato in bianco at the end of June.

Moby’s passengers over summer 2020 declined 40%-50% compared with a year earlier, according to a source.

As reported, Moby and its ad hoc bondholder group were previously discussing possible new money provision either from the ad hoc committee, in the form of a super senior loan, or from a third-party investor as an equity injection. They were talking about a potential change of governance for the Italian shipping group as well as about the unwinding of the company’s related-party transactions.

At the end of July, Moby sent a restructuring proposal to its creditors that contemplated the repayment of the company’s €300 million 2023 bonds at about 20-25 cents and a 10-year extension of its bank debt. The notes would be repaid through the proceeds of the sale of its tugboat division. According to the proposal, the value of the company’s fleet in a liquidation scenario would amount to less than €250 million, sources said.

Since then, negotiations between Moby and its ad hoc bondholder group have not progressed, sources said.

Moby had 16 tug boats in 2018 which were valued by the company at about €41 million. The whole tugboat division, including concession contracts, could be worth about €70 million, sources told Reorg.

The company is assisted by PWC and Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners, while the bondholder group - which includes funds Sound Point Capital, Cheyne Capital, BlueBay and Aptior Capital - is working with Houlihan Lokey and Gatti Pavesi Bianchi as financial and legal advisors, respectively.

Moby is negotiating with the administrators of Tirrenia di Navigazione, which carried out a protective seizure of the current accounts of CIN on March 30.

The capital structure of the last reported results for the third quarter of 2019 is below. The group delayed its full-year 2019 and first-quarter 2020 results as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.



--Luca Rossi
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