Ince to Advise Danaos on HMM Restructuring
Ince & Co’s London and Piraeus corporate, finance and shipping teams have advised long-standing client Danaos Corporation on Korean container line Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. (HMM), Ltd.’s US$2.1 billion restructuring.
New York Stock Exchange listed Danaos Corporation is a leading international owner of container ships, chartering vessels to many of the world's largest liner companies.
The restructuring completed on 23rd July 2016 when HMM issued 151,292,727 new shares to creditors as part of a debt for equity swap.
With 13 vessels on long-term charter to HMM, Danaos is the largest single shipowner in HMM’s fleet. Along with other container shipowners, Danaos agreed to a 3.5 year reduction in charter hire of 20% for its vessels on charter to HMM in exchange for equity and 6 and 8-year loan notes.
As part of the deal, Danaos acquired 4.6 million common shares in HMM and US$39 million in loan notes.
The cross-border and cross-practice Ince & Co team that worked on the deal was led by London-based partners David Baker (Global Head of Ship Finance) and Matthew Stratton (Corporate).
The team also included solicitor Elizabeth Lord (Ship Finance) and trainee Christian Lagreze. The team in Piraeus consisted of Shipping partners Antonis Lagadianos and Jamila Khan and senior associate Ioannis Stephanou.
David Baker, Ince & Co’s Global Head of Ship Finance, commented: “We were very pleased to have been able to assist our longstanding client Danaos to conclude this important restructuring, which helps stabilize one of their important counterparties. Restructurings such as this are prevalent in the current maritime sector and by further augmenting our transactional capability we will continue to secure further mandates of this significance.”
Zoe Lappa-Papamatthaiou, Legal Director at Danaos Shipping, added: “Ince & Co’s ability to bring together a cross-border and cross-practice team of maritime sector specialists added real value to what was a significant transaction for us.”
Ince previously acted for shipowners including Danaos on the ZIM restructuring in July 2014. The deal which was awarded Restructuring Deal of the Year 2014 at the M&A Advisor 2014 Dealmakers’ Awards.
