Workshops

  • Workshop A: Perfecting credit assessment and risk minimization when financing a vessel
  • Workshop B: Financing options and structures - deciding the best financing option and structure in today’s market
  • Workshop C: Restructuring problem shipping loans and liquidation strategies for defaulted facilities
  • Workshop D: Protecting your interests- security enforcement and bankruptcy protection

Pre Conference Workshops: Tuesday, 2 February 2010

09.00 - 12.00Workshop A: Perfecting credit assessment and risk minimization when financing a vessel(with Refreshments & Lunch)

The financial crisis has made lenders more hesitant to issue credit. This is understandable considering the bad shape the shipping industry is in and fears of whether ship-owners can survive the poor shipping market. It is crucial that ship financiers apply the right set of analytical skills to assess credit and risk, selecting the best projects to finance and best ship-owners to work with. On the other hand, it is important ship-owners understand financiers’ key considerations before financing a project, to ensure the best chance of them accessing funds. This workshop is intensive, highly interactive and will feature case studies, role plays and exercises to provide you with the tools to perform credit assessment successfully, thus minimizing risks.

Attend this workshop to:

  • Explore risk analysis techniques applied by banks and lenders
  • Understand how lenders can more effectively review company history, analyze risks and characteristics of the company, formulate credit views and formulate conclusions
  • Going through in detail elements that affect a bank’s decision to finance in order to select the best project to invest in:
    i. Type of vessel
    ii. Track record
    iii. Return on equity
    iv. Policy     		v. Age of asset
    vi. Vessel valuation
    vii. Flag state and Port State Control
    viii. Regulatory risks
  • Negotiating for the best terms and prices in the current market
  • Evaluating what is now expected of ship owners and how can they manifest credit worthiness

Dimitris Belbas
Managing Director, Head of Shipping Finance
Seafin Pte Ltd

Dimitris graduated with MBA, INSEAD as well as BSc & MSc in Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens. He joined Seafin in 2008 where he successfully expanded the group’s corporate finance and shipping finance activities in the Asia Pacific region out of the Singapore office. Seafin’s shipping finance activities include dealing with private sector shipping credits, privatizations, capital markets transactions and the restructuring of problem loans, and has developed a successful track record of advising and assisting financial institutions and ship owners on their strategic decisions with respect to ship finance. Dimitris has also participated as a speaker in many shipping finance forums.

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13.00 - 16.00 Workshop B: Financing options and structures - deciding the best financing option and structure in today’s market(with refreshments)

Raising capital is the top concern for ship owners in today’s tight credit market. With the cost of syndicated loans increasing tremendously and the number of shipping banks lending drastically decreasing, knowing where and how you can source for funds is critical. Is it still cost-effective to raise finance through syndicated loans? What are the pros and cons if you decide to raise finance through alternative financing options? In this workshop, you will benefit from understanding how you can select the best financing option and structure to fund your fleet of vessels.

Attend this workshop to:

  • Analyze in detail the financing structures and products in the market and their suitability to your business:
    i. Traditional loan contractual structures
    ii. Leasing
    iii. Hybrid structures- K/S System / KG System
    iv. Non recourse/project finance
    v. Structures incorporating export credit vi. Islamic finance
    vii. Structured finance incorporating more than one product
    viii. Bond issues
  • Learn how you can structure deals and negotiate pricing terms
  • Find out geographically the best places to raise funds
  • Understand how you should draft your proposal and position your company while negotiating with financiers

Goh Mei Lin
Partner
Watson, Farley& Williams

Goh Mei Lin specializes in cross-border asset, project and structured finance transactions. These transactions range from the documentation of “plain vanilla” syndicated loans to the structuring of complex tax and/ or balance sheet driven transactions. Mei Lin has acted for a variety of lenders, arrangers, lessors, lessees, owners, operators and borrowers in Europe and Asia in the maritime & logistics, offshore oil & gas and energy sectors. She has been recommended as a project finance lawyer in the Asia Pacific Legal 500.

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Post-Conference Workshops: Friday, 5 February 2010

09.00 - 12.00 Workshop C: Restructuring problem shipping loans and liquidation strategies for defaulted facilities(with refreshments & lunch)

In uncertain economic times, you must be prepared to deal with borrowers who find themselves in financial difficulties which may lead to them being unable to service loans or perform obligations under their financial agreements with you. It is imperative that you are proactive in understanding the financial condition of your ship owner client so that problems can be detected early on, which may allow constructive solutions to be developed. In this workshop, you will benefit from understanding restructuring strategies and options in today’s markets in order to select an alternative course of action and maintain working relationships.

Attend this workshop to:

  • Explore how you can review different aspects of shipping loans to make the best decision:
    i. Syndicate
    ii. Credit documentation
    iii. Trade debt details
    iv. Location and conditions of assets
    v. Status of charters
  • Analyze typical yield protection, market disruption provisions and the concept of good faith
  • Understand how loan documents can address issue of funding
  • Assess the current trends in debt finance restructuring
    i. Commercial aspects
    ii. Credit aspects
    iii. Legal aspects
  • Examine shipping loans restructuring for the following:
    i. acquisition finance for second-hand tonnage
    ii. newbuilding finance (pre and post construction)
  • What to do following a default action?

Janos F Koenig
Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer
Eurofin International Ltd

Janos has extensive banking experience, in shipping, construction and oil trade financing at Bank of America in Greece, Egypt and London and then at BAII plc, a London-based merchant bank where he was Director responsible for International Finance. At Bank of America he was involved with the restructuring of the Turkish Sovereign debt in the late 1970’s as well as with the Shipping Portfolio in the early 1980’s. As a partner in Eurofin, since 1986 he has helped build up the financial advisory business of the company and has been involved in a number of restructuring projects on behalf of financial institutions.

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13.00 - 16.00 Workshop D: Protecting your interests- security enforcement and bankruptcy protection(with refreshments)

Never before has understanding the complexities of bankruptcy protection been more crucial! An increasing number of companies in the shipping sector have been financially affected by the global shipping crisis as well as the inability to raise capital. Safeguarding your interests and protecting your investments is crucial in today’s volatile shipping market and this workshop will show youon how security enforcement and bankruptcy protection can be effectively carried out.

Attend this workshop to find out in detail:

  • How security can be effectively enforced
  • How ship arrest law has increased the risk of enforcement
  • When does a court order the judicial sale of ship and the procedure by which a ship is sold judicially?
  • Whether judicial sale can aid restructuring
  • How bankruptcy protection works and whether it can affect secured loans
  • When a court puts a company under judicial management, how it works, and the implications on secured and unsecured creditors
  • What happens when a company declares itself bankrupt or is made bankrupt by the court?
  • How will a liquidator deal with creditors who have restructured their security?

Lawrence Teh
Partner
Rodyk & Davidson LLP

Lawrence deals with a wide scope of shipping commercial cases and appears regularly as leading counsel in the Singapore Courts, in arbitration and mediation sessions. Lawrence has handled both wet and dry shipping matters and advises major owners, banks and shipyards on all forms of maritime law including enforcement of maritime claims, shipbuilding contracts and disputes, maritime joint ventures, limitation of ship owners’ liability, maritime joint ventures, and associated areas such as the international sale of goods and commodities. Lawrence’s experience in banking litigation extends to advising on banking secrecy, letters of credit, drafting and enforcement of demand guarantees, enforcement of banking facility claims and mortgage claims. His work regularly involves bankruptcy and bankruptcy protection issues. He is recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” for Shipping, Maritime & Aviation by Asialaw and is listed in the “International Who’s Who of Shipping.”

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