Solstad Seeks Creditor Talks Amid Sluggish Recovery

Norwegian oil service vessels (OSV) firm Solstad Offshore is seeking negotiations with creditors and other stakeholders to boost liquidity ahead of the slow winter season, the company said on Monday, sending its shares down 20 percent.

"We were all too optimistic about when the recovery will happen," Chief Executive Lars Peder Solstad told Reuters. "2019 will probably be a bit better, but we will need to wait until 2020 or 2021 to see the rates rising to reasonable levels."

The largest owners of Solstad are billionaire investors Kjell Inge Roekke and John Fredriksen, who own close to 40 percent of the shares. The company underwent major debt restructuring in 2016-17, merging with several competitors.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)