SHUAA-led consortium successfully buys out AED1.13 billion debt of Dubai-based Stanford Marine Group

Asset management and investment banking platform SHUAA Capital has successfully completed a debt buyout of the AED1.13 billion (US$308 million) facility of UAE-based Stanford Marine Group (SMG), the parent company of Grandweld Shipyards and offshore vessel operator Stanford Marine.

Since 2019, SHUAA Capital has been working with SMG’s lending syndicate and its advisors to arrive at a buyout deal that meets all parties’ objectives.

Both SHUAA and SMG say the subsequent restructuring transaction has helped save more than 1,800 jobs and annual exports of close to US$20 million worth of vessels at Grandweld Shipyards’ facility in Dubai Maritime City.

The debt was the result of drops in chartering rates and diminished offshore projects that came in the wake of the global oil price plunge in 2015.