Norton Rose Fulbright advises Mitsui and MOL on subsea support vessel market entry

Business November 30, 2016

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) on the formation of a joint venture company with AKOFS Offshore AS and the acquisition of the subsea equipment support vessel “Skandi Santos”.

The transaction is Mitsui’s and MOL’s first endeavour into subsea vessel support business.

The Tokyo and London offices of Norton Rose Fulbright advised on the debt and equity financing of the acquisition of the vessel, the commercial contracts including the acquisition and charter documentation, and on the joint venture arrangements between Mitsui, MOL and their Norwegian counterparty, AKOFS.

Brazil's national oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., has chartered the Skandi Santos from AKOFS since 2010, using it to install subsea facilities in deep-sea oil and gas fields offshore Brazil.

Paul Coggins, a partner in the Tokyo office of Norton Rose Fulbright commented:

“This joint venture represents an exciting opportunity for both Mitsui and MOL in a new business sector and represents for Norton Rose Fulbright a confirmation of our global platform across multiple practice areas in offshore maritime matters.”

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Tokyo partner Paul Coggins, with assistance from of counsel Jason Lemann and associates Yui Ota, Jonathan Wang and Jennifer Brightling. The London team was led by partner Chris Viner with assistance from associate Mayuko Sakai.

For further information please contact:

Jessica Man, Marketing and Communications Executive, Asia
Tel: +852 3405 2445
jessica.man@nortonrosefulbright.com

Notes for editors

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm. We provide the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. We have 3800 lawyers and other legal staff based in more than 50 cities across Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Recognized for our industry focus, we are strong across all the key industry sectors: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and life sciences and healthcare.

Wherever we are, we operate in accordance with our global business principles of quality, unity and integrity. We aim to provide the highest possible standard of legal service in each of our offices and to maintain that level of quality at every point of contact.

For more information about Norton Rose Fulbright, see nortonrosefulbright.com/legal-notices.

Contact

Partner