Former offshore vessel and dry bulk owner Jacques de Chateauvieux wants to expand the specialised fleet of Evergas — his remaining shipowning vehicle — with new investments.
The Danish company’s high-specification fleet includes multigas ships that can serve niche small-ship LNG trades where demand is growing.
But first he must settle with creditors — this time those of Evergas parent company Jaccar Holdings.
Seeking clarity
De Chateauvieux, 69, who told TradeWinds that he and wife Caroline are well after both contracted Covid-19 —but were asymptomatic — just after Christmas, is facing a deadline this year for settlement with Jaccar creditors.
“In gas shipping today, there are many opportunities for flexible niche solutions,” he said. “But first we must clarify our agreements with our creditors. Once that is done, we can seek how we can offer solutions for customers with more specialised gas ships.”
Jaccar’s situation with its creditors is distinct — but related — from the struggle that ended his control over offshore vessel owner Bourbon.
“How can it repay its loans if its biggest asset was 52% of Bourbon?” the shipowner asked.
Following the 2015 crude oil price collapse, Bourbon survived for several years despite the financial costs of a huge, young and underemployed fleet.
But de Chateauvieux was under pressure from several directions. In 2017, he sold off the 14 ships of his former Setaf-Saget bulker fleet to settle debts.
By the end of 2019, he had finally lost control of Bourbon itself after a protracted struggle with banks and lessors. The handover of all assets and activities to bank-owned Societe Phoceenne de Participations extinguished previous shareholdings in the offshore giant, including Jaccar’s majority stake.
‘They were not lucky to do this’
De Chateauvieux noted that the banks have not profited from the takeover, in part because the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have held back recovery in offshore.
“They were not lucky to do this,” he said. “The market for offshore has not recovered, and it costs them cash-wise every month.”
The takeover of Bourbon still left a number of businesses under Jaccar Holdings, including Evergas and fishing business Sapmer. “It holds all my activities besides what I lost,” he told TradeWinds.
The Marseille-based shipowner declined to discuss the exact legal status of a formalised settlement process between Jaccar and its creditor group, which he described as a diverse group of banks, institutions and family offices.
But previous press reports indicated that in November 2019, Jaccar Holdings was placed under a process of “sauvegarde”, similar to a British company voluntary arrangement. Jaccar’s financial reports from previous years indicated that by the terms of a 2017 restructuring, a repayment deadline was set for June 2021.
The 2017 restructuring substituted two bonds for bank debt and bonds of €790m ($958m) plus $56.4m.
De Chateauvieux is optimistic but frank about Jaccar’s situation: “It is a film of which the end is unknown until we see the letters ‘THE END’ on the screen.”
