Joint provisional liquidators have been appointed by the Supreme Court of Bermuda to assist in restructuring the indebtedness of Dream Cruises Holding Limited.

Puisne Judge Larry Mussenden on Friday appointed Bermudian-based Alex Whittaker, of R&H Services Limited, Reid Street, Hamilton, as well as Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong, of Alvarez and Marsal in Hong Kong, as JPLs.

Mr Justice Mussenden made the order after hearing from lawyer Lilla Zuill, representing DCHL.

Ms Zuill told the court that DCHL is an investment holding company, a subgroup of which operates a fleet of three cruise ships.

The company was incorporated in Bermuda in 2015.

Ocean World, itself a subsidiary of DCHL parent company Genting Hong Kong Limited, holds 69.97 per cent of the company’s issued share capital and Dream Minority Equity Consortium holds 30.03 per cent.

Dream Cruises is one of three lines operated by parent company Genting.

Last month, the same three joint provisional liquidators were appointed by the Supreme Court here to assist in restructuring the Genting group’s indebtedness.

Now, DCHL has sought and been granted an order by the court similar to that requested by its parent company.

Ms Zuill told the court that Genting was the “primary source of operational funding” for DCHL.

She said there was “significant financial pressure” on DCHL and certain of its lenders have issued reservation of rights letters to the company.

Ms Zuill added that DCHL was taking “urgent action” to seek the appointment of JPLs who will negotiate with creditors regarding a “value-enhancing restructuring as opposed to a value-destructive liquidation process”.

She said DCHL had “a very viable underlying business to be preserved by a restructuring of the company’s indebtedness”.

Ms Zuill acknowledged the potential for conflict with the same set of JPLs appointed in respect of parent Genting and its subsidiary, but said there are benefits to retaining the same nominees and added that there were “contingencies in place in case a conflict arises”.

Lawyer Rhys Williams of Conyers, representing the Dream Minority Equity Consortium, addressing the potential conflict because of the overlap of JPLs, said his “client’s position is reserved in that regard”.

Ms Zuill said an ad hoc group of creditors of the company have indicated their agreement with the appointment of the three JPLs.

Mr Justice Mussenden ordered the sealing of an affirmation and exhibits on the court file by Chris Chan, which Ms Zuill told the court contained “commercially sensitive information” related to negotiations and internal business affairs.

Genting has also operated Star Cruises in Asia, and Crystal Cruises, which makes a range of round trips from the ports of Barcelona, Antarctica and Miami, including sailing to Bermuda.

The hearing of the petition to wind up DCHL was adjourned to May 6.