Aegean Marine wants the world to know it’s not OW Bunker.
Both were in the marine refueling industry and both declared bankruptcy.
That’s where the similarities end, Aegean director Tyler Baron told TradeWinds Tuesday morning.
“For 20 different reasons, it’s just so different from OW,” said Baron, who is leading Aegean through chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
When OW collapsed in 2014, its purchases and sales on credit left a wake of lawsuits and criminal convictions.
When it comes to Aegean, Baron said, “every molecule of oil that has been sold to customers has been paid for.”
“There’s no way there could be a double claims issue,” he added.
Baron and Sal Drago, Aegean’s global director of trading, said there was confusion in the market about Aegean’s status since it filed for chapter 11 in New York federal court two weeks ago after being hobbled by fraud allegations and dwindling lines of credit.
Issues ran from concern this could be like OW all over again to questions about whether bankruptcy means liquidation, as restructuring protection is unique in the US.
But both insisted the company has settled up with vendors and suppliers, customers are coming back and the business is operating normally.
This was further bolstered by news Tuesday that the courts had unlocked $532m in debtor in possession financing from Mercuria Energy Group, plus $40m in incremental cash over the next 30 days.
Baron said it was more liquidity than the company had for the entirety of 2018.
And unlike in June, when Aegean had key terminals running dry, Aegean is stocked up across all its stations.
Aegean Marine is next due in court the first week of December, including a final Debtor in Possession hearing on 5 December.
Baron said he expects a hearing for the auction 22 February.
Mercuria, who stepped in as Aegean’s sole lender in the summer, is the stalking horse bidder.
Baron said the group of dissident bondholders, who make up the company’s biggest creditors and have alleged Mercuria is taking over Aegean at a bargain, would have the opportunity to bid along with others.
But a sale to Mercuria would allow the company to be financed as part of “the Mercuria family of businesses" and move forward that way.
“We’re entering into the final phase of completing this process and repositioning the company as healthy, with significant access to liquidity and to serve its customers better than it’s been able to, really, in the history of the company,” Baron said.
