Altor faces DKK 1.2bn lawsuit over OW Bunker collapse

It is understood the GP has not been served any formal notice of a claim yet, but the curator of the OW Bunker estate, Søren Halling-Overgaard has said the estate intends to bring cases against multiple parties deemed to have been in some way party to the OW Bunker collapse, including Altor.

The suit involves two cases totalling claims of DKK 2.2bn against Altor, management and former accountancy services provider to OW Bunker, Deloitte. According to Danish financial publication Finans, Altor will be a party in a DKK 1.2bn suit because the GP realised value in the oil supply business of around DKK 1.08bn a few months before the IPO of OW Bunker in early 2014.

Law firm Gorrissen Federspiel told Finans the legal claims have not formally been brought yet, though they are expected in the near future, while financing of the legal proceedings is currently being sorted with OW Bunker's creditors.

Altor told unquote" it did not wish to comment, as the firm had not received any notice of litigation yet.

If brought, the suit is likely to be the largest ever bankruptcy claim in Danish financial history.

Altor-backed OW Bunker declared bankruptcy in late 2014, less than a year after being listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange. The collapse resulted from massive losses following alleged serious fraud in a Singaporean subsidiary and losses related to risk management contracts.

As a result of the bankruptcy, Altor LPs and OW Bunker investors ATP and PFA sold their stakes in the GP's Altor Fund IV, as they joined 24 other major OW Bunker backers in a DKK 803m claim against OW Bunker's management, board and certain people and subsidiaries of Altor. ATP and others also launched an independent investigation into the collapse.

Further reading

• Nordics

The sinking of Altor’s OW Bunker

• 25 Nov 2014

• Nordics

OW Bunker: PFA joins ATP in Altor IV exit

• 09 Jan 2015

• Nordics

SEB exits Altor-backed OW Bunker

• 28 Oct 2014

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