Petroplus announces administration orders

25 January 2012

Petroplus Holdings AG (SIX: PPHN) has announced that its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Petroplus Refining & Marketing Ltd. (“PRML”), which owns the Coryton refinery, and Petroplus Refining Teesside Ltd., which owns the Teesside Marketing & Storage facility, applied for and were granted administration orders.

Petroplus

As a result of the administration order with respect to PRML, the $1.6 billion aggregate principal amount of outstanding senior notes of Petroplus Finance Ltd. have accelerated. The Court today appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator for the assets of the above companies.

Petroplus Holdings AG will provide further updates to the public as needed.

Contact information:
Petroplus Holdings AG
Fredrik Olsson; +41 (0) 58 580 1244

Petroplus Holdings AG will file for insolvency, and the refiner was granted administration orders in the United Kingdom. Petroplus said Friday it would consider selling its Petit Couronne refinery, which has a 7,300 barrels per day base oil plant.

The company yesterday cited failed negotiations with its lenders to reopen credit lines. The lenders filed acceleration notices, and Petroplus went into default debt in notes and bonds.

Petroplus said it will initially file for insolvency in Switzerland, where it is headquartered. Its subsidiaries will file for insolvency in their respective countries. The company has refineries in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Germany.

“We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets,” Petroplus CEO Jean-Paul Vettier said.

Subsidiaries Petroplus Refining & Marketing, which owns the refinery in Coryton, U.K., and Petroplus Refining Teeside, which owns the Teeside Marketing and Storage facility, applied for and were granted administration orders. A court appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers administrator for the two subsidiaries' assets.

On Jan. 20 Petroplus said it would initiate a sales process for its Petit Couronne refinery and related marketing business. The Petit Couronne base oil plant has 6,300 b/d of API Group I capacity and 1,000 b/d of Group III capacity. The refinery has 550 employees.

The company said it intended to complete a consultation process in the coming months, and would consider all other possible options for Petit Couronne. By press time, Petroplus did not reply to Lube Report’s inquiries about how the insolvency filings would impact those plans.