Text exchanges between the CEO of OW Bunker,
Jim Pedersen, and the head of its subsidiary Dynamic Oil Trading (Singapore) Pte Ltd,
Lars Moller, provide a unique insight into what was being discussed at the upper echelons of the organization in the days before the Danish marine fuels firm filed for bankruptcy.
The text messages, revealed by DR Nyheder, are said to have been checked directly with both Jim Pedersen and the lawyers of Lars Moller, who are reported to have confirmed their authenticity. The names of some of the people mentioned in the messages have been concealed.
The first messages are sent on Sunday, November 2, during the weekend before OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy on Friday, November 7.
Both directors discuss the credit of
Tankoil Marine Services Pte Ltd, a company which is said to have ultimately racked up $80 million of outstanding debt with Dynamic Oil Trading and contributed to the collapse of OW Bunker.
"Hi Lars, X says net is 36 mio. USD with Tankoil? Is it true," wrote Pedersen to the head of the Singapore-based subsidiary.
"I spoke with XX on Friday. It was 26 mil minus our open orders that are more than 20 mil. We have a meeting with them next week," came the reply from Moller.
The Singapore director therefore appears to confirm that Tankoil owed the business a net amount of $6 million dollars and that the credit given to Tankoil was over the $10 million limit permitted for a CEO, which would have needed to have been approved first by the board of directors.
According to page 109 of OW Bunker's IPO prospectus: "We have a formal credit authority governance structure to ensure a consistent approach to setting credit limits and well-defined and delegated approval levels. The credit line is up to USD 0.3 million for our local managers, up to USD 2.5 million for the group credit director, up to USD 5.0 million for the credit committee and up to USD 10.0 million for the CEO. Requests for credit above USD 10.0 million must be approved by the Board of Directors.
"Our credit committee can approve credit lines of up to USD 10.0 million with a maximum payment term of five days for marine fuel sourced by our operations in Scandinavia and the ARA area and sold to non-end-user third parties, subject to review by the CEO. These levels are net of credit insurance cover, formal offset exposure and bank guarantees. In addition to the established credit limits, temporary increases can be approved in line with our credit risk management policy by local managers. If a customer exceeds our credit limits, our risk management sales department would typically initiate a margin call to request an offsetting cash payment."
In response to Moller's previous message, Pedersen said on Sunday, November 2:
"Lars, I thought that we constantly checked that we do not get in trouble?"
"We do too," replied Møller and then added a new calculation of "net 24 mil" with open orders of $20 million.
According to Moller, the net amount outstanding was now down to $4 million from the previously mentioned amount of $6 million earlier that day.
This led to a firm reply from Pedersen to his director in Singapore regarding the management of the company's finances.
"Lars, it is also important that you keep close track of these balances," said the OW Bunker CEO.
The last text message between the two directors was sent on November 4, according to DR Nyheder. It was sent at 12:33 from Pedersen to Møller and said:
"Lars, call me, very important to get you to Aalborg. / Jim"
The following day, on November 5, Moller is understood to have arrived in Aalborg and met with the senior management of OW Bunker. Later that day, the Danish firm announced a loss of "around $150 million" from its risk management activities, an alleged "fraud" committed by senior employees at Dynamic Oil Trading and the sacking of Head of Risk Management, Jane Dahl Christensen.
On November 7, OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy.
