ASL Marine proposes warrants issue as part of debt restructuring

ASL Marine is planning to issue warrants to noteholders and shareholders as part of its debt restructuring plan, with each warrant carrying a strike price of S$0.06 per share, the marine services company announced on Monday before the market opened.

ASL Marine is sticking with a proposed warrant issuance plan laid out on Dec 5 to holders of the company's S$100 milllion of 4.75 per cent notes due 2017 and S$50 million of 5.35 per cent notes due 2018. Under the proposal, ASL Marine plans to issue two warrants for every dollar of outstanding principal amount for the 2017 notes and 2.5 warrants for every dollar of outstanding principal amount for the 2018 notes.

For shareholders, ASL Marine is planning to issue one warrant for every two existing shares held. The company has about 630 million issued shares, according to information from the Singapore Exchange.

Each warrant will carry the right to subscribe for one new share at an exercise price of S$0.06 per share. The exercise price represents a 5 per cent discount to the counter's closing price of S$0.063 on Dec 28.

As at 10.48am on Monday, shares in ASL Marine were trading down 6.4 per cent, or 0.4 Singapore cent, to S$0.059 apiece.

ASL Marine announced the planned issuance ahead of its expected launch of a consent solicitation exercise to seek waivers and acceptances from the holders of the 2017 and 2018 notes for the restructuring plan. The issuance of the warrants is also subject to shareholders' approval.