We note that in a recent statement Triumph Subsea Services Ltd (Triumph) have made various claims amongst which they claim to have terminated the Letter of Intent (LOI) entered into in December 2020 for a new build vessel. As noted at the time of updating the market, the LOI was non-binding on either party, had an expiration date of 30 June 2021 in the event a contract was not entered into, and therefore, by default there is nothing to terminate. Further, Triumph were informed by the Company in April 2021 that the Company had set the LOI aside following due diligence on the credibility of Triumph’s proposal. The Company offered to remain in touch in case there was a material change in the credibility of Triumph’s position in the future.
For a shipbuilding project to proceed, there are several key components required such as, inter alia, a credible counterparty with a proven management team, detailed technical specifications with equipment and a detailed design that has classification society approval along with equity and a credible route to debt funding. As part of the Company’s corporate governance process, prior to progressing from a rough order of magnitude price to a fixed price tender, it was established, in our opinion, that Triumph had achieved none of the above milestones. Therefore, a decision was made to pursue other projects that had a far great probability of converting into credible vessel construction contracts. Further, Triumph’s aspiration that the UK government would step in and provide the equity was an interesting concept, but we were unable to find any evidence of this being a reality.
The Company will not issue any further statements on this matter, and we take this opportunity to wish Triumph Subsea Services Ltd all the best with their very ambitious project going forward.
