Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (Aegean) announced that it has filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The debtors entered this process with the support of Mercuria Energy Group, an independent energy and commodity company.
Mercuria will provide over $532 million in postpetition financing to fund the chapter 11 process and Aegean’s working capital needs. It will also serve as the stalking horse bidder in a sale process, aiming to optimize the value of the company as a going concern. Aegean will continue to explore value-maximizing alternatives.
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The debtors will continue to operate their businesses as ‘debtors-in-possession’ under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court and according with the relevant provisions of the US Bankruptcy Code and orders of the bankruptcy court.
They have also filed a series of first day motions with the bankruptcy court, seeking authorization to continue to carry out their business in the normal course, including in relation to employees, customers and suppliers, among others.
What is more, the debtors are seeking approval of the Mercuria-led postpetition financing, to ensure that Aegean has enough working capital to fund the business and continue ordinary course operations during the Chapter 11 Cases and to fund the sale process.
This announcement comes after news last week, that Aegean had written-off of $200m of expected payments that, according to the company, did not have economic substance.
According to sources, in addition to the $200m, another $100m may have been misappropriated under fraudulent activities.
In fact, during summer, Aegean had informed that $200m of receivables were not able to be collected, while a probe had discovered pre-payments for oil deliveries that were never made.
Furthermore, it was discovered that funds were misappropriated through fraudulent pricing regarding the building of an oil terminal in Fujairah.
