Just weeks after Calecore Ltd had reached agreement with its major creditors, Fugro BV petitioned for winding up of Calecore last week after having denied several creditor restructuring proposals.

According to Calecore, experts are of the opinion that the current filing must be seen as a very aggressive move to limit their only credible integrated site survey competitor.

Management of Calecore believes this to be a reflection on their current internal issues including the new Boskalis shareholding and significant loss of market share in EMEA & Asia over the past 18 months & the currently depressed market conditions.

Calecore Ltd had encountered a difficult position after US and EU sanctions against Russia resulted in later and lesser payments on a large and highly successful project in the Kara Sea for Exxon & Rosneft. Value Enhancement Partners BV, 50% shareholder in Calecore, also compounded issues by withdrawing the majority of their loans upon final collection of Russian funds.

Management states that the Fugro’s moves were disappointing and contrary to expectations confirming that: “Our relationship with Fugro has been good, with detailed discussions last year on further co-operation potential. These discussions encouraged an environment where Calecore subcontracted Fugro on one of our projects to provide additional capacity for Calecore whilst assisting in utilization of Fugro’s flagship, the Greatship Manisha, through an idle period in the summer. Whilst the Fugro’s actions are not the root cause, they are a very disappointing catalyst to placing Calecore into an otherwise difficult but potentially manageable situation.”

Calecore is currently In discussion with its major stakeholders (clients, suppliers, employees and shareholders) to develop a scenario which safeguards as much as possible of the company’s assets and potential. This will involve placing the company into Administration within the next few days.

“Key objectives are to retain employment for personnel, provide the best outcome for its creditors and to continue to offer its clients an alternative to the current limited number of credible suppliers,” said the company in a statement.