Nantong’s Tongzhou District People’s Court has put an end to the restructuring appeal by debt-ridden Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry, and officially declared it bankrupt.
A a request by Mingde to extend the submission of its restructuring plan, after it lapsed on 25 June, was not successful. Hence, Mingde itself applied for bankruptcy.
Mingde was a leading shipyard for chemical tankers. Due to its financial difficulties Mingde was unable to receive bank guarantees, and had to team up with Shenzhen-listed Sainty Marine on new orders.
Sainty Marine had applied to help restructure Mingde via a debt-for-equity rescue deal. But the rescue plan failed to make any progress as Sainty Marine is itself mired in financial troubles.
Currently Sainty Marine is also suffering from a financial crisis, it is trying to sell four already completed 64,000dwt bulkers to offset some debts.
Mingde held on to its last hopes as the company announced in mid-July that it sought new investors to turn the company around, setting a timeline of until 30 July to receive interests from investors.
Last week, Boa PSV AS, a 100 % owned subsidiary in the Boa Offshore group, has cancelled the shipbuilding contracts for two multi-purpose support vessels (MPSVs) with Nantong Mingde.