Icici News

A Singapore court has approved a freeze on up to $3.5 billion of assets of the family behind collapsed Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, boosting the prospect of debt recovery from the former oil trading empire that counts some of the world's biggest banks among its creditors.Hin Leong was wound up in March after failing in a year-long effort to restructure more than $3 billion in debts after the COVID-19-led oil crash laid bare huge losses. Founder Lim Oon Kuin admitted in a court document…

India's ICICI Bank is seeking the impounding of two vessels operated by Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, a unit of Singapore oil-trading company Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd (HLT), an ICICI source said on Monday.The tankers, Wu Yi San and Chang Bai San, were carrying cargoes financed by ICICI, the source said, adding that the bank had about $100 million exposure to HLT.According to a court filing reviewed by Reuters, HLT's founder and director had directed his firm not to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over several years.Shares of ICICI Bank fell about 4% after Reuters reported ICICI'

The Indian ministry of defence (MoD) has terminated the contracts with India's ABG Shipyard, which already  was out of the race for $2.6-billion four Landing Platforms Docks (LPD). This comes as another serious setback to the Shipyard after it was listed as non-performing asset (NPA) accounts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for fast resolution under the insolvency law. ABG Shipyard has failed the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) carried out by ICICI bank. The Financial Express reported that keeping in mind the poor financial health of the shipyard, the MoD has written to ABG  that their old contracts are terminated. “The MoD through a letter to ABG Shipyard has cancelled contracts including Cadet Training ship; Coast Guard Training Ship and Naval vessels.

Logistics service and solutions provider Seaways Shipping & Logistics Ltd has filed draft papers with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO comprises fresh issue of shares worth  about $12 million through a fresh issue of sale and an offer-for sale of up to 6,445,224 equity scrips by the existing shareholders, including IDFC Private Equity, according to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus filed with Sebi. With this, Seaways Shipping has become the fifth company to file papers with SEBI this year for an IPO. The proceed of the fresh issue would be utilised for capital expenditure, repayment of loans and for other general corporate purposes.

Sparking speculation that a recovery in commodities could be around the corner, the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities,  has risen 17.5 per cent since September 15, reports Business Standard. The indexis up 21 per cent at 943, since January this year. Analysts say the spike is due to an increase in iron ore imports by China. Iron ore prices in that country have risen 28 per cent since July. While some analysts say China is continuing to buy select commodities, the majority view on global commodities trade remains bearish. The index, analysts say, is unlikely to witness any major uptrend in the coming months, owing to a bleak outlook for the demand for commodities from China, the world’s largest importer of raw materials.

India's largest private shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard is in talks with Privinvest Holding SAL to sell stake. A report says that Privinvest is expected to acquire up to 49% stake in ABG. A report in the ET NOW says both the companies entered into an exclusivity period for the transaction on May 29. Privinvest may get 3 board seats and new management to ABG Shipyard post the deal, says report. Privinvest Holding which has shipbuilding operations across the world is interested in picking majority stake in ABG Shipyard not only to have a presence in India but to also gain from its defence licence to build warships. This will be a much needed lifeline as ABG has been struggling to stay afloat a year after its Rs 11…

India has eased norms for the import of ships, the government announced last week. Import of ships by open general license (OGL) under a bareboat charter-cum-demise method, which is similar to hire-purchase, will not need a technical clearance by the government, but will need an evaluation of the import price, officials said. "The price reasonableness (evaluation) and interest margin on rental payments will be verified by ICICI," a government spokesperson said, referring to bareboat charters. ICICI is one of India's leading finance firms. "However, the price reasonableness will be required only if the value of the imported vessel on CIF (cost, insurance and freight) basis is more than 10 million rupees," he added.