Crunch time as board calls EGM for embattled Harland & Wolff
Irish shipyard Harland & Wolff, which built the Titanic and Olympic, has called for an emergency general meeting amid claims it is “slowly dying each day,” in remarks from billionaire and potential investor Michael Flacks to the local press.
The UK Government was set to provide a GBP 200 million loan guarantee facility for the yard earlier this year, but this was turned down on the grounds of low confidence in the shipyard’s finances.
Flacks is one of several who have expressed an interest in buying the shipyard, along with Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer, of ‘Titanic II’ fame. But Palmer has since called for the UK Government to investigate the company over insufficient fiduciary discipline.
The yard has appointed merchant bank Rothschild & Co. to advise and secured new credit facilities with existing backers such as US bank Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income. The yard is now seeking an emergency general meeting “with immediate effect” to appoint a new non-executive director.
Recent H&W contracts have involved an extensive refit on Margaritaville at Sea Islander, a 300m-long ex-Costa Cruises vessel now owned by the eponymous US cruise company; and the mid-life upgrade on floating production storage & offloading (FPSO) vessel, SeaRose, for Canada’s Cenovus Energy.
