Heliconia Capital Management Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, has emerged as a potential white-knight investor to shipping group Pacific International Lines (Private) Ltd (PIL), and is conducting due diligence ahead of potentially acquiring an equity stake in the company, two sources close to the situation told Reorg.
Heliconia has engaged Houlihan Lokey as financial advisor, one of the sources added.
The potential investor has also held talks with at least three law firms for a potential legal advisory role, the first source added.
PIL is also discussing potential emergency funding with existing lenders and Heliconia, the two sources said. The size of the funding is still under discussion, but would rank as either super senior debt with priority, or as senior debt, depending on whether funding comes from Heliconia or existing lenders, the sources said.
The negotiations are in addition to the standstill agreement to
defer principal and interest payments until Dec. 31, 2020. As reported, PIL has received in-principle approval from holders of 97.6% of the total debt to defer principal and interest payments until the earlier of Dec. 31, 2020 or until a formal debt reprofiling agreement is entered into.
The standstill arrangement was first agreed in October, prior to which PIL had remained current on principal and interest obligations to its lenders,
as reported. The standstill had been extended once from end January to end April.
Heliconia did not respond to request for comment. PIL and Houlihan declined to comment.
-- Nidhi Pandurangi