Karlsen Shipping In Hands Of Receiver
Published in
Karlsen Shipping Co. Ltd. was placed in receivership Tuesday and the Halifax tour operator’s prized cruise ship, M/V Polar Star, remains tied up in Spain until authorities on either side of the Atlantic can reach an agreement on its future, The Chronicle Herald reported. It took Justice Arthur LeBlanc only a few moments to grant a receivership request from the Toronto-Dominion Bank during a Nova Scotia Supreme Court proceeding prompted by the shipping company’s inability to settle a $1.4-million repair bill. Polar Star had a collision with an iceberg in the Antarctic in January. "A decision on the future of the ship will come after a receiver or equivalent authority is appointed in Spain," court-appointed receiver David Boyd, with PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., said after the proceeding. The bank’s lawyer, John D. Stringer, with McInnes Cooper in Halifax, suggested in court that the Polar Star may become part of liquidation proceedings designed to help Karlsen Shipping pay creditors. Karlsen owes Toronto Dominion about $4.6 million and another $750,000 is owed to Norway’s Sparebank 1 SMN. The shipping company has other debts totalling $3.4 million, according to court documents. Stringer said it is important that the Polar Star’s value as an asset be preserved. Read more.