Shares of Brightoil Petroleum will be delisted from the Hong Kong exchange on Tuesday, about three years after trading the stock was suspended.
Previously one of the largest non-state tanker owners in China, Brightoil has failed to meet exchange requirements to resume trading its shares despite claiming to have made significant progress in financial restructuring.
“The company’s resumption plan was reasonably and practicably achievable. However, implementation of the said plan was delayed mainly as the result of Covid-19 outbreak,” Brightoil said in a regulatory filing.
The pandemic “halted the completion of audit” and “prolonged negotiations with creditors and buyers of the company’s assets”, Brightoil said.
In a separate filing, the exchange said the trading house’s listing will be cancelled from Tuesday as its shares have been suspended from trading for more than 18 months.
Brightoil’s stock was halted on the exchange on 3 October, 2017, after the company admitted it could not publish its financial results on time as it was “in the process of providing all information requested by the auditor.”
Financial restructurings
The admission came as Brightoil embarked on a series of financial restructurings to shore up its balance sheet.
After selling its fleet of five VLCCs, four aframaxes and six bunker tankers, the company managed to secure a $362m refinancing package from state-linked China Huarong Overseas Investment at the end of last year.
Earlier this year, Brightoil said it submitted a proposal to the exchange to resume the share trading and planned to publish all outstanding financial results by 29 May.
But the company only released its audited results for the second half of 2017 this September.
Unaudited results showed the company had outstanding liabilities of HKD19.4bn ($2.5bn) as 30 June, 2019, including HKD 15.6bn in current liabilities.
Brightoil said it would continue negotiations with its creditors and sell a majority stake in its oil storage and terminal facilities in Zhoushan, with a capacity of 3.16m cbm, to repay debts.
