O.W. Bunker A/S

As many Members may know, on 7 November 2014, O.W. Bunker A/S filed for bankruptcy.  Shortly afterwards, O.W. Bunker & Trading A/S and O.W. Supply & Trading A/S likewise filed bankruptcy.  On 10 November, O.W. Cargo Denmark A/S also filed for bankruptcy.  The four companies are now being administered by two trustees:  Pernille Bigaard of the Danish firm Plesner and John Sommer Schmidt of the Danish firm Gorrissen Federspiel. 

The Club instructed Danish lawyers, Bech-Bruun, to provide some general advice on Danish bankruptcy procedure.  In particular, with regards to filing claims that Members may have against any of the above O.W. entities, Bech-Bruun advise that a notice of claim can be filed by sending an email or letter to the trustees which sets out the nature of the claim clearly and is supported by all documentation which sufficiently establishes the claim.  There are no strict formal requirements that the notice must meet, simply that it sets out Members’ claim and that it is supported by documentation.

Further, there is no time limit to file the notice of claim, except that all claims would need to be filed prior to the estate being wound up or closed down by the Trustees.  The Trustees are required to provide notice in advance of their intention to close the estate.  Presently, it is expected the bankruptcy will last some years before it can be closed.  If a claim is filed within four weeks from the decree date (the earliest start date being 6 November) any creditor who has filed within that time will have the right to vote if any other creditor calls a creditors’ meeting and demands a change of Trustee. 

Once a claim is filed, this will entitle the creditor to receive semi-annual updates from the Trustees regarding the progress of the bankruptcy proceedings. 

Those Members who wish to file claims against the above O.W. entities should send their claims to the following:

Christian Pedersen         ph. +45 86 20 74 71      cpe@gorrisenfederspiel.com

and send in copy to:

Morten Pedersen           ph. +45 33 41 41 44      mmp@gorrissenfederspiel.com

Line Gritt Boel Jensen   ph. +45 33 41 42 68      lgj@gorrissenfederspiel.com

The Club is currently dealing with a large number of enquiries from Members who contracted with one of the various O.W. entities for bunkers and have received demands for payment from the supplier of the bunkers who has not been paid by the O.W. entity for those bunkers.  Since the current situation is complex and changing, we strongly recommend Members to contact the FD&D department to assist in advising how best to deal with such demands for payments from the suppliers in order to protect Members’ interests, as simply paying the demand from the physical supplier may not necessarily protect the Members from further demands for payment from other Claimants.