Dubai's Gulf Navigation Reduces Debt

Dubai's Gulf Navigation Holding said on Tuesday it had reduced its debt from $36 million to $21 million and hopes to end a long-running dispute with creditors by consolidating all of its borrowing before the end of the year.

Dubai's only listed crude shipping company expanded ambitiously at the end of the last decade just as oversupply hit the chemical tanker business and transportation rates plummeted.

Subsequent debt disputes weighed on its performance and investor confidence for many years, but Gulf Navigation has now "reached an amicable settlement with its creditors," Chief Executive Khamis Juma Buamim said in a bourse statement.

It did not clarify with how many creditors it had reached a settlement with, and did not provide further details or a timeframe over which the debt level fell.

With its debt issues drawing to a close, the company was focused on expanding in the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, Khor Fakkan and Fujairah, Buamim added.

Gulf Navigation shares were flat at 1.19 dirhams ($0.32) at 0745 GMT, although they have nearly doubled in value so far in 2016 as traders bet on an improving outlook for the shipping company.