India's Machtrans Ship Management has doubled its fleet after it emerged as the buyer of an auctioned Mercator tanker.
The Mumbai-listed owner's 36,000-dwt Hansa Prem (built 2001) was the subject of an arrest order by a creditor, but the forced sale order granted to the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) took precedence.
It has now been renamed Prem after being acquired at an online auction for $3.6m by domestic operator Machtrans, which is better known as a manager.
It has one other tanker, the 47,000-dwt Sun (built 1992).
Machtrans did not respond to TradeWinds' request for further comment.
VesselValue assesses the Prem as worth $6.25m.
Mercator said it had "committed delay and default in repayment of debt obligation in relation to credit exposure sanctioned by Exim".
The lender had the sole mortgage on the tanker.
The proceeds of the sale will be used for reduction of the company's debt and other liabilities.
In February, Mercator said banks and creditors were taking insolvency action against it as tankers were arrested.
The tanker and bulker company said proceedings had been filed at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by "a few operational creditors" and two financial creditors, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India, under the insolvency and bankruptcy code.
The cases had not been admitted by the tribunal at that time, so no process had started.
Other sales taking place
ICICI is said to be owed INR 500m ($7m). It had also filed an application to stop a Mercator subsidiary selling its interest in Indian oil block CB-9. This was granted in January.
The subsidiary has raised more than INR 2bn through loans from Bank of Baroda and debentures which were under the trusteeship of Axis Trustee Services.
The Mercator unit had pledged vessels and oil and gas assets to the lenders as collateral against the loan.
Bank of Baroda and Axis Trustee Services have applied to the NCLT to keep that subsidiary out of proceedings.
The company said in February that it wanted to sell its 47,000-dwt MR tanker Prem Mala (built 2000). The vessel has since been placed under arrest by a bank and an operational creditor.
In addition, its four dredgers are in the process of being sold off, with the company switching to chartering two vessels instead.
The company said it is pursuing claims of its own worth INR 15.13bn relating to vessel losses, insurance claims and financial arbitration.
Mercator has been selling off other ships in recent months.
Last year, it had a VLCC, two tankers, two floating storage and offloading units, a bulker and five dredgers.
Now it has the bulker, a tanker and four dredgers, after disposing of its final FSO last month for INR 500m.
