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.