Dubai-listed engineering and construction company Drake & Scull International announced that Dubai Court of Appeals issued a judgment approving the company's restructuring plan, which was agreed upon by the majority of the creditors.

The plan includes writing off 90 percent of the Company’s debts in addition to raising capital to bolster its financial position.

In a DFM statement, the company said the court’s judgment, issued on 1 November, includes the appointment of an expert to oversee the restructuring procedures, the publication procedures in local newspapers, and setting a 20-day deadline from the publication date for unregistered creditors to register their names. Subsequently, a final list of all creditors and their debt amounts shall be determined.

Furthermore, the court granted the company and its subsidiaries a period of 12 to implement the restructuring plan, effective from the date of issue of the final list of creditors. This period increases according to the progress of the restructuring procedures and the necessity of the situation at the time.

The court concluded its judgment by issuing a decision to halt all judicial proceedings against the company and its subsidiaries and suspending all execution procedures against them.

While welcoming the court’s favourable ruling, Shafiq Abdelhamid, Chairman of DSI, said the management intends to complete the lawsuits filed against the previous management until the end.

“Based on the ruling issued by the esteemed court approving the restructuring plan and upon completing all its conditions, the Company will cooperate with the Securities and Commodities Authority and the Dubai Financial Market to return its shares to trading as soon as possible, in addition to working on raising the Company’s capital in accordance with the restructuring plan during the first quarter of 2024,” he said.

The DSI chairman told CNBC Arabia that the remaining 10 percent of the debt owed to creditors will be repaid through Sukuks convertible into shares with a maturity of five years.

He said the volume of debt included in the restructuring agreement with creditors amounts to 4 billion UAE dirhams ($1.01 billion), adding that the agreement includes 44 local and foreign banks.

DSI’s restructuring experts are Aaronite Partners, Trussbridge Advisory, Hadef & Partners and Allen & Overy.

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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