Firms owed money by shipyard ‘to get 2p in pound’

Businesses owed money by Harland and Wolff can expect to get no more than 2p in the pound from the firm’s administration process.

Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder Navantia bought Harland and Wolff out of administration for £93m earlier in the year.

The order in which that money is distributed is set out in law.

The US investment fund which lent money to Harland and Wolff is a “secured creditor” and ranks ahead of other businesses which are “unsecured creditors”.

The fund, Riverstone Capital, received an initial £39.5m in January and can expect to get a further £16m.

That means it will get back about a third of what it was owed when Harland and Wolff went bust.

The details are contained in an update from the insolvency practitioner Teneo which is managing the administration process.

It said “non-preferential unsecured creditors” which were businesses which did work for Harland and Wolff could expect to get between 0-2p in the pound over the next nine months.

The update suggested one local contractor was owed more than £2m.

Last month Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said the losses for some local firms would be a “hammer blow”.

The administration process means Navantia is not liable for any debts incurred under the previous ownership.