A former CFO and a former director of a subsidiary have been ordered to pay damages of 200 million kroner. The Eastern High Court has ruled in the large-scale damages case in the wake of the bankruptcy, which was called the largest stock market scandal in Danish history.
At the same time, the company's former owner, the private equity fund Altor, the former top management and board of directors, and the company's auditor, Deloitte, are acquitted. And thus the result falls far short of the 1.2 billion kroner that trustee Søren Halling-Overgaard had demanded.
As trustee, he is responsible for the cleanup after OW Bunker's bankruptcy, and he is trying to collect money for the bankruptcy estate - and thus the banks and creditors who lost large amounts in the bankruptcy 11 years ago.
OW Bunker went from being Denmark's second-largest company measured by revenue in 2013 to going bankrupt in November 2014. The bankruptcy occurred only eight months after the company went public. As a result, thousands of investors lost money.
In 2024, a number of investors reached a settlement in a separate case, which meant that they were compensated with 645 million kroner from Altor, two banks, OW Bunker's bankruptcy estate and the former management.
Settlement in other case was rejected
However, it was not possible to reach a settlement in the case, where the bankruptcy estate had made claims against a total of ten defendants - including Altor, the former management and the company's auditor, Deloitte.
The defendants rejected an offer to settle for 600 million kroner - half of the claim of 1.2 billion kroner. Therefore, in February, the Eastern High Court began the extensive compensation case, which has been heard over approximately 50 court hearings.
It was Jim Pedersen who, as CEO, was at the head of OW Bunker when the company collapsed in November 2014. He died in 2017 after a long illness, and part of the compensation claim was therefore directed at his estate. However, the estate has not been ordered to pay compensation.
Another person against whom the bankruptcy estate directed claims was Lars Møller, who was the director of OW Bunker's subsidiary in Singapore, Dynamic Oil Trading.
In 2019, he was sentenced to five years in prison by the Western High Court for gross breach of trust when he acted outside the company's management and caused OW Bunker a loss of 645 million kroner.
The company had a lively trade with its customer Tankoil. The only problem was that Tankoil could not pay. The loss contributed to OW Bunker going bankrupt. But even before the financial loss in Singapore came to light, OW Bunker significantly lowered its expectations due to an unusual drop in the price of oil.
And Lars Møller has been ordered to pay compensation of 200 million kroner in the case. The same is Morten Skou, who was CFO.
According to the High Court, Lars Møller was aware of the growing and real receivables that the company had. And Morten Skou had also been aware of the ongoing development in the trade, according to the High Court. He "should have taken further steps to ensure that the risk was not greater than the risk that the CEO had approved," it says.
On the other hand, OW Bunker's owner, Altor, and the accounting firm Deloitte, among others, are acquitted. In relation to the speculation with oil, the High Court assesses that the group's risk policy had been adopted based on business considerations for the group. It has not been proven that the framework set for the oil trade was unjustified, it says.
/ritzau/
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