Three Banks Seek Liens on Havila Shipping Assets After Restructuring Dispute
Key Facts
DNB, Swedbank and Danske Bank have asked to establish liens on assets of Havila Shipping Group, according to a company disclosure published on November 6, 2026. The request is part of an ongoing dispute over the group’s debt restructuring agreement, after the company lost its case before the appellate court. Havila previously said in a disclosure that the three banks were demanding early repayment of debts linked to the group. The dispute also concerns financing for the vessels Havila Foresight and Havila Harmony. The disclosure did not state the procedural outcome of the new request, so the reported information remains that the banks filed a request to establish liens on the assets.
On October 19, 2026, Havila said it had lost its appeal over its position that refinancing the debts of lenders who opted for settlement on December 30, 2024, breached the restructuring agreement. The dispute also concerns the restructuring agreement signed on June 19, 2020, according to a company disclosure in December 2025. The company said at the time that the three banks alleged the group had breached the agreement. It also said the banks financed the two vessels mentioned in the disclosure. These facts put the new lien request in the context of a broader dispute over the restructuring terms and related debts.
The appellate court had rejected an earlier request by the banks to place liens on group assets in a ruling issued on May 29, 2026, the company said on May 30. Havila said at the time that "the banks’ request for liens was rejected by the court." This shows that the November 6 request followed an earlier judicial rejection of a lien request, while the dispute between the company and its lenders continues. The available disclosure does not say whether the court has considered the new request or issued a ruling on it. Nor does it report that any assets have actually been seized.
In its December 2025 disclosure, Havila said the banks had demanded early repayment and that outstanding debt at September 30, 2025, included NOK 130.8 million of interest-bearing debt. It added that the nominal value of the non-interest-bearing B tranche was NOK 595.1 million on the same date. The banks, according to the company disclosure, demanded interest and default interest of NOK 7.9 million. The company links these claims to the restructuring agreement and vessel financing, while the new lien request comes in the context of the demand for rights over group assets. Those figures are from the December 2025 disclosure and are not new figures announced in the November request.
On the company’s operating position, Havila’s operating income was NOK 120.5 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with NOK 172.6 million in the corresponding period of 2025. Bank deposits were NOK 168.4 million on March 31, 2026, against NOK 170.9 million on March 31, 2025, according to company data. In the market, DNB shares, trading under the ticker DNBBY, closed at $35.09 on November 5, 2026, according to EL7 daily data. These figures are for the period before the November 6 disclosure and do not measure the share’s movement after the request was announced. Havila said it disagrees with the appellate court ruling and will appeal it to Norway’s Supreme Court, with November 19, 2026, as the deadline to file.