Haircuts are now a necessary evil in O&M sector's notes restructuring

THE plight of a largely retail-based Singdollar noteholder community with exposure to Singapore's offshore and marine (O&M) sector is back in the spotlight this week.

A string of disclosures reflects the inconvenient truth that O&M players, under tremendous financial pressure two years into the downturn, are no longer in a position to deliver on any promise to this stakeholder group.

Failing to secure new financial aid and backing from its senior lenders, Marco Polo Marine had to kick off a new notes restructuring exercise after pledging its Batam land to securitise unsecured notes not too long ago, in exchange for deferring notes principal redemption.

And with Ezra Holdings' Chapter 11 filing now in process, noteholders are left to wonder what will become of the monies in an escrow account that was set aside f…