Keppel to build wind turbine installation vessel in US; more bondholders accede to Floatel lock-up

Singapore

KEPPEL Corporation on Thursday said it is building a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) for US company Dominion Energy, that is scheduled for delivery in 2023.

This comes after the conglomerate in October announced that it had bagged a contract worth about S$600 million for the engineering, procurement and construction of a vessel for the offshore renewable energy industry.

The vessel is being built by Keppel Offshore & Marine's shipyard in the US, Keppel AmFELS. It will be available for charter hire to offshore wind developers, in support of several US wind projects, Keppel Corp said.

The WTIV is expected to be fully utilised on US East Coast projects exceeding five gigawatts of US offshore wind construction through to 2027.

According to Keppel Corp, the contract is on progressive payment terms and is not expected to have any material impact on its net tangible assets and earnings per share for the current financial year.

Separately, Keppel Corp on Wednesday night announced that more bondholders have acceded to a lock-up agreement under which they will commit to a proposed financial and corporate restructuring of Floatel.

Floatel is 49.92 per cent-owned by FELS Offshore, which in turn is a wholly-owned unit of Keppel Corp. FELS Offshore had entered into the lock-up agreement earlier this month. The restructuring is expected to involve a new entity acquiring certain subsidiaries of Floatel that own and operate vessels.

As at Dec 16, bondholders holding over 67 per cent of Floatel's first-lien bonds, and bondholders holding close to 18 per cent of its second-lien bonds are now party to the lock-up agreement, Keppel Corp said. This is up from over 56 per cent and close to 13 per cent, respectively. Shareholders of Floatel representing a significant majority of the equity have also executed the agreement, Keppel Corp added.

On Dec 16, Floatel also filed voluntary winding-up petitions before the Bermuda courts in respect of Floatel and its subsidiaries - Floatel Reliance, Floatel Superior, Floatel Triumph and Floatel Victory.

Keppel Corp shares closed up 0.19 per cent to S$5.37 on Thursday.