Swiber receives claims of $99m, petitions against $104m in bank guarantees pay-out

Troubled offshore services firm Swiber Holdings has received claims of around $99m as at 4 August, and is petitioning against calls for several bank guarantees amounting to approximately $104.21m.

Swiber, which has been placed under judicial management, updated that it is seeking legal advice on the claims.

The group also announced that seven bank guarantees amounting to around $104.21m have been called upon, amongst which one of them with a value of $4.64m has been paid out by the relevant bank.

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has called on several bank guarantees which were issued for a handful projects that Swiber’s wholly-owned Swiber Offshore Construction (SOC) was involved in either solely or as a consortium partner.

In addition, Punj Lloyd has called on a $1.475m bank guarantee provided for two other projects, which has been paid out by the bank.

SOC, however, has since written to notify both ONGC and Punj Lloyd that their calls on the bank guarantees were “wrongfully made” and SOC has filed several petitions in the relevant court for injunctions against the pay out of these bank guarantees.

“The court has on 4 August 2016 granted an interim order instructing the banks to hold back on any payment of the bank guarantees until the next hearing date for the applications for injunctions (11 August),” Swiber stated.

“SOC is also in discussions with lawyers on the potential steps that may be taken to preserve its rights in relation to the bank guarantees that have been paid out,” it added.

Singapore bank DBS has been hit by around SGD721m ($537m) exposure to the struggling Swiber.

Swiber, whose main business is in engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC) services focusing on the field development stage, stunned investors when it filed for liquidation in late-July, only to reverse its move in favour of putting itself under judicial management.