The newly-launched shipping team of Duane Morris & Selvam— the enhanced joint law venture between Singapore boutique Arfat Selvam and U.S. firm Duane Morris— has closed its first major transaction representing PT Supraco Lines, a subsidiary of Indonesian listed company PT Radiant Utama Interinsco Tbk (RUIS), on a ship sale and purchase deal.
The sale involved the acquisition of a mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) operating in Indonesian waters. Shareholders approved a pledge of its assets to the financiers which will fund the acquisition of the MOPU from its Dubai-based joint venture partner, Global Process Systems (GPS).
The MOPU is currently jointly provided by both PT Supraco Lines and GPS to a shared client – a PSC company in East Java. The project began in 2005 and will lapse in 2020. An offer to acquire the MOPU assets valued at US$35m was agreed to by RUIS, who has secured approval from shareholders to fund the acquisition via external funding through a foreign bank and a financial institution. DBS Jakarta financed a portion of the rig and a smaller portion of the deal was financed by Singapore-based investment fund Crest Capital Asia.
DM&S won the mandate through the firm’s prior relationship with the client.
The team led by DM&S directors Peter Doraisamy and Colin Jarraw also advised on the terms of the memorandum of understanding and other sale documents entered into between the parties.
“The deal had to be closed on very tight timelines and both the parties as well as their legal counsels worked very well together to ensure that this was done,” DM&S co-lead partner Jarraw said.
“During the course of the deal co-operation, a replacement of a refund guarantee to the oil and gas concession holder was required. The smooth working relationship between the parties and their counsels facilitated the resolution of this important issue,” he said.
According to both directors, the deal is of core significance to DM&S’s practice building initiatives in Singapore and Asia as a whole.
“Shipping is an area that we are committed to growing regionally and Singapore is a hub for a significant portion of that activity,” Doraisamy said. “We will most definitely be looking to grow our presence in this space and we’ll be pitching for similar work in Singapore and across South East Asia as a whole.”ALB
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