Ceona Ship Goes to Court Appointed Administrator
Aiswarya Lakshmi
Friday, September 18, 2015
UK offshore vessel owner Subsea contractor Ceona has gone into administration, with the loss of 102 jobs.
Ceona and Ceona Services (UK) Ltd have been hit by the depressed subsea market caused by the low price of Brent crude oil.
The group – a heavy subsea engineering contractor operating in the deep water oil and gas market – has ceased trading and 102 employees will be made redundant from the firm, which was headquartered in London but had offices in Aberdeen and Houston.
Ceona provided engineering and project management services to deliver complex subsea construction and pipe laying projects, utilising a fleet of ships.
The administrators now intend to take steps to market for sale the assets of the group, including the state-of-the-art flagship Ceona Amazon.
“In the period leading up to the administration, the group’s cash flows came under significant strain due to falling demand for the group’s services as a result of the depressed market conditions and ongoing investment in the group’s fleet,” said Ernst & Young’s Alan Bloom, joint administrator of Ceona Investments Limited and Ceona’s UK-based group companies.
“Despite attempts to restructure the group it was unable to achieve a turnaround on a solvent basis and the group was therefore placed into administration by the Directors,” he added.
Ceona Pte Limited, OIG Giant I Pte Ltd and OIG Giant II Pte Ltd are not in an insolvency process and will continue to operate, Ernst & Young said.
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners was the Ceona’s majority shareholder. Concerns about the company’s future surfaced earlier this month when Ceona was accused of defaulting on a major contract for one of its ships.