[080212.EN.SEA] FSL Trust Monitoring Lease Payment From Berlian Laju

Singapore: Shipping trust First Ship Lease (FSL) Trust is prepared to take stern action against financially strapped Berlian Laju Tanker (BLT) should the latter default on lease payments on three chemical tankers.

The Singapore-listed FSL Trust currently leases three chemical tankers - Pertiwi, Prita Dewi and Pujawati - to wholly-owned subsidiaries of BLT.

Indonesia-based BLT announced a debt standstill last week and said it had stopped paying its debts and leases.

“FSL Trust Management is monitoring the situation and will take strenuous action to ensure that the lessees will continue to abide by their contractual obligations to make payments on their lease agreements,” FSL Trust said in a statement.

The trust added that it has received all its lease payments due for the month of January and the next lease payments from the lessees are due in the first week of February. The leases accounted for 12.8% of FSL Trust's total revenue for the financial year 2011.

FSL Trust claimed that even if BLT fails to make payments for February, it will not cause the trust to be unable to service the debt obligations under its loan agreement.

Source : STA.