Harland & Wolff’s chief executive officer (CEO) of the Belfast-based shipbuilding group has quit as the company seeks emergency lending to keep itself afloat, according to reports.
The group, which has four shipyards on both sides of the Irish Sea, reports the Belfast Telegraph, faces being broken up and put up for sale if a new loan is not agreed, according to the Financial Times.
The FT, citing “several people familiar with the situation,” said CEO John Wood's departure had been expected as a condition of a new £20m loan from its Wall Street lender, Riverstone Credit Partners.
Around 1,500 people are employed across the yards located in Belfast (Queen’s Island), Arnish (the Isle of Lewis), west Scotland, and also in the east at Methil on the Firth of Forth and Appledore, north Devon, England.
The multisite business of H&W, with the yards in N.Ireland, Scotland and England, form the infrastructure and shipbuilding company that already had a high-interest $115m credit facility with the US group.
Also, according to the FT, Mr. Wood announced his departure to the directors after making an overnight text.
More on the iconic yard, whose origins date back to 1861, and in which the Belfast Telegraph has sought a comment from both the shipyard group and Riverstone.
