Sanctioned Russian state shipowner Sovcomflot (SCF Group) remains in talks with European regulators in a bid to solve its Irish bond headache.
The company said last year its payment agent was refusing to touch coupon payments to investors following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
There were two eurobond issues worth $928m, with maturities this year and in 2028.
The tanker and LNG carrier owner has been swapping some of its notes with Russian ones, with payments being made in roubles.
Now it has launched a second tender for the 2028 tranche, allowing holders to make another exchange, following an earlier bid in October, when $318m was swapped.
In December, the Moscow-listed company replaced $377m of its 2023 series.
After the swaps, there were still $121m of the Irish 2028 tranche in circulation and $112m of the 2023 series.
The 2028 coupon remains at 3.85% in Russia, with the 2023 bond paying 5.375%.
The deadline to tender bonds is 19 April.
No early redemption
The company told investors there are no plans for an early redemption of the 2028 series.
“The Sovcomflot Group has the necessary financial resources to make all payments due to holders on both issues of eurobonds,” the tanker owner said
“However, due to the sanctions imposed, neither the payment agent nor the international clearing systems are ready to accept funds from the Sovcomflot Group for distribution to holders of the eurobonds,” it added.
The company continues to work with Irish and UK regulators in order to obtain the approvals and confirmation required to make payments on eurobonds outside of “Russian infrastructure,” the company said.
Sovcomflot is known to have missed two interest payments on its two issues in 2022.
The missed coupon in April was worth $8.28m on the 2028 series; the missed June payment was not specified.
The Irish notes were delisted by the Irish Stock Exchange on 12 April, which Sovcomflot said was done “without proper notification”.
