The Tidewater-Gulfmark merger is final, with Tidewater announcing its completion and the stepping down of chief financial officer Quinn P. Fanning following "an orderly transition" period.
GulfMark Chief Executive Officer Quintin V. Kneen will take his place.
Tidewater’s President and Chief Executive Officer, John Rynd said "As President and Chief Executive Officer of GulfMark, Quintin navigated that company through its own pre-packaged Chapter 11 restructuring. Along with GulfMark’s board of directors, Quintin led GulfMark through the critical process of determining the most appropriate merger partner ... to capitalize on its impressive financial and operating position."
VesselsValue analyst Charlie Hockless said the consolidation between GulfMark and Tidewater is a good thing for the OSV market.
"With Tidewater’s steadfast and unyielding attitude towards the scrapping of non-performing vessels, this is a good chance for the market to reduce some of its oversupply. Hopefully with this new entity taking the lead, other market players might follow suit," he said.
Mr Hockless cautioned that consolodation efforts are only effective if lenders cooperate with companies in their efforts to restructure.
"Consolidation in today’s market only works if lenders are willing to take haircuts and provide an opportunity for these companies to start afresh with a clean balance sheet," he said.
He cited the struggles of Solstad Offshore and Bourbon in finding financiers after their own mergers, saying "They undertook restructuring and consolidation ... However, without a clean balance sheet, problems are only going to resurface further down the road. Kicking the can down the road is not a viable option in this market."
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