Ezra's 40%-owned EMAS CHIYODA Subsea Ltd ("ECS"; holding company for its Deepwater Subsea division and a j-v with Japanese Chiyoda (35%) and NYK (25%)) had on 27Feb17 filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. to facilitate ECS Group’s financial and operational restructuring....
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Ezra%20-...eID=441994
If the 2 presumably still rather deep-pocketed Japanese partners choose not to save ECS, how else can Chapter 11 help? It appears there is a good chance for an eventual court-sanctioned asset sales or even liquidation process. Jialat!
It is interesting to observe how Ezra's 2 other divisions - the 75.25%-owned (as at 1Nov15) EMAS Offshore Ltd ("EOL"; SGX-listed holding company for the Offshore Support, Construction and Production Services division), and the 60.91%-owned (as at 1Nov16) Triyards Holdings Ltd ("Triyards"; SGX-listed holding company for the Engineering and Fabrication division) - would evolve and survive under the prevailing tough market conditions and financial squeeze including at the parent company (Ezra Holdings) level.
Already EOL's restructuring of own financings with its principal bankers has stalled....
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/EOL%20An...eID=441993
As at 30Nov16, EOL Group's total gross debts stood at $780.7m, and had a cash balance of only $10.8m....
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/EOL%20An...eID=435455
Triyards' latest (30Nov16) P&L and B/S appear still looking acceptable....
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/TRIYARDS...eID=435085
Triyards Group's total gross debts stood at $164.8m, and had a cash balance of only $18.5m. The group's trade payables balance stood at $54.7m, and its large $215.6m trade receivables balance (increased from $170.3m as at 31Aug16) does not appear liquid enough.
If EOL goes down financially, Ezra Holdings does not appear to be in a position to save it. Based on its latest 31Aug16 B/S, Ezra Holdings at the parent company level had another $292.2m in total debts, and a cash balance of only $6.2m....
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Ezra%20Q...eID=431188
Triyards' finances could also falter if it cannot collect a big chunk of its trade receivables.
IMHO, The roots of all these financial messes and troubles rest with Ezra's top management having pursued aggressive business growth and asset build-up by using too much debts, and using a corporate structure of multiple listed vehicles to raise even more capital and debts.
Now Ezra Group's bankers and creditors, the lawyers and accountants, and the courts and authorities, will have a lot of tough work cleaning up this mess!
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