Navigator Gas

1997–1999 In 2006 Navigator Gas Management Limited (NGML) and its affiliated companies were under new management and owned and operated "five semi-refrigerated 22,000 cubic meter liquefied ethylene gas carriers". In 1997, Giovanni Mahler of Lugano, Switzerland, and Shaun Fergusson Cairns of the Isle of Man and 2 other investors, formed Navigator Gas Transport PLC as an Isle of Man public limited company to "construct and operate five 22,000 cubic meter semi-refrigerated gas carriers". By July 30, 1999 the freight rate had decreased in the shipping industry, lowering the market value of NGT vessels under construction, which were the collateral for the NGT First Priority Ship Mortgage Notes. In response, Moody's downgraded NGT's First Notes. and Moody's anticipated that the company would have to explore restructuring options. The delivery dates for the five vessels which were being constructed in Jiangnan, were delayed and were therefore subject to penalties imposed by the Chinese Export-Import Bank and Generale de Banque S.A.. The first vessel was on sea-trials in early 2000 and all five vessels were expected to be delivered by February 2001. Because of these factors, Moody's again lowered NGT's first notes to Caa2 from Caa1. In 2002 Moody's described NGT as "an Isle of Man public limited company operating out of Lugano, Switzerland and New York City." filed for bankruptcy in New York under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. At that time, Navigator's "business involved the ownership and operation of vessels which were utilized principally in the shipping of liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemical gas pursuant to charter agreements." In 2012, when Wilbur Ross—who had acquired his first stakes in Navigator in 2011 through WL Ross & Co and affiliates—increased his stake, the company was transformed. Ross, who served as Chairman of Navigator in the 2010s, arranged financing so that Navigator Gas could make major purchases which included the 2013 acquisition of Maersk's Handysize LPG fleet, two secondhand LPG carriers, and construct four new buildings. Before Ross' transactions, Navigator Gas's fleet of ten gas shipping vessels was the second largest in the world after Maersk. When Ross purchased the 34% stake of Navigator Holdings held by the then-bankrupt Lehman Brothers in August 2012, Ross' stake increased to 55.7%. Navigator Holdings merged with gas shipping company Ultragas, creating a joint fleet of 56 ships. ==Navigator Holdings Plc==

Navigator Holdings Company (Navigator Holdings Plc), is a holding company, which was founded in 1997 with headquarters in the United Kingdom. In its first annual report published on February 1, 2001, Navigators Group Inc. self-described as "an international specialty insurance holding company with insurance company operations, underwriting management companies." According to George Weltman, in his Editor's Choice Award March 2013 article in Marine Money, Wilbur Ross (through his company WL Ross & Co), can be credited with a "complete makeover" of Navigator Gas starting in 2012 as Ross increased his stake in the company. Ross was able to arrange financing so that Navigator could increase its fleet to become the world's largest by purchasing Maersk's fleet in 2013, buying second hand vessels and signing a contract in April 2014 with Jiangnan Shipyard/CSTC for the construction of "six 21,000 cbm semi-refrigerated ethylene carriers" On November 10, 2014, the Privy Council declared Cambridge v creditors as an "unsafe authority for the concept of judicial assistance in international liquidations." On May 16, 2016, in the leading case of Cambridge Gas Transport Corp v Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (of Navigator Holdings Plc and Others), Cambridge/Navigator lawyers successfully cited Borland v Steel (1901) UK company law with approval. The case was dismissed. ==Operations==

Services The Navigator Libra, a semi-refrigerated gas carrier was delivered in February 2012. In December 2012 the company had contracted a company in Jiangnan, China to build four ethylene-capable semi-refrigerated gas carriers. Liquefied Ethylene Gas (LEG) carriers are "the most sophisticated of the semi-pressurized tankers and have the ability to carry not only most other liquefied gas cargoes but can also transport ethylene fully-refrigerated at its atmospheric pressure boiling point of ." Designed to carry most liquefied gas cargoes except LNG point of ." In February 2013 three Maersk Tankers were delivered to Navigator including Navigator Galaxy, Navigator Genesis, and Navigator Gusto. In a July 17, 2017 press brief, Navigator Holdings announced that Navigator Gas and Entreprise, an American natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas, were building an "Ethylene export terminal connected to Enterprise’s high-capacity ethylene salt dome storage and ethylene pipeline system." "Navigator Holdings Ltd - Enterprise’s ethylene storage facility will have about 600 million pounds of capacity." Board of directors As of June 2023, Navigator Holdings Ltd.'s board of directors is made up of Dag von Appen (Non-Executive Chairman of the Board and Director), Yngvil Åsheim, Dr. Heiko Fischer, Janette Marx, Dr. Anita Odedra, Peter Stokes and Florian Weidinger. Navigator's biggest shareholders are BW Group Limited of Bermuda, and Ultranav International ApS of Denmark, which each own approximately 29% of Navigator Holdings Ltd. Former shareholders have included the private equity firm, WL Ross & Co which is owned by Wilbur Ross, who has been a key person in WL Ross & Co since it was established in 2000. By January 2016, WL Ross & Co was the "biggest investor" in "Navigator Holdings, a liquefied gas shipping company." According to Bloomberg Businessweek, at an event hosting by Navigator in New York on November 30, 2016, Ross assured Butters that "Your interest is aligned to mine. The U.S. economy will grow, and Navigator will be a beneficiary." The APM Reports investigation found that Teramoto, "cut the China trade deal despite serving as a director for Navigator Holdings Ltd." was one of Navigator's transoceanic shipping clients from early 2012 until the timecharter contract expired in December 2023. Navigator Holdings has "received more than $68 million in revenue since 2014" from Sibur. Sibur's owners include Kirill Shamalov, who is married to the President Vladimir V. Putin’s youngest daughter and Gennady Timchenko, Putin’s "friend and judo partner." Timchenko "is subject to American sanctions." Paradise Papers On November 5, 2017 the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the Paradise Papers, a transnational, collaborative investigation by 95 media partners based on 13.4 million leaked files related to the Bermuda-based offshore specialist Appleby, "one of the world’s largest offshore law firms". The Cayman Islands is a British territory that "levies no corporate or personal income tax on money earned outside its jurisdiction." On November 7, Ross announced that he would "likely" "divest Russia-linked shipping stake." even though he "did nothing wrong." "Navigator did not come up at Ross' confirmation hearing in January, but he was asked about his decision to retain an interest in Diamond S Shipping, which operates 33 petroleum product tankers. Ross said his research showed that no ocean shipping cases had ever come before the Commerce Department. Ocean shipping is regulated by the Federal Maritime Commission, an independent agency." At the White House Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters, that his was a "herculean accomplishment...This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade. Normally trade deals are denominated in multiple years, not tens of days." ==See also==