Freshly Minted – May 25, 2000

BREAKING NEWS

FRONTLINE AND GOLDEN OCEAN AGREE ON FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING PLAN OF GOLDEN OCEAN.

Frontline has agreed to a restructuring plan with Golden Ocean a company that holds interest in 14 VLCCs, 3 VLCC newbuilding contracts and 10 bulk carriers. Under the agreement Golden Ocean shall become a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontline.

Frontline has committed to pay up to USD 33 million in cash, or to issue up to 4.1 million shares and 1.9million warrants in Frontline valued to USD 48 million to take over all unsecured debt and all upstream guarantees. These numbers do not include a takeout of the USD 78 million Golden Ocean bonds currently controlled by Frontline. The payment gives the bondholders a payment of between 15 % and 22 % of their claim dependent on which alternative they take. Other unsecured claims will receive approximately 5 %. The issue price for the Frontline shares is set to USD 10.00 while the strike price for the warrants is set to USD 12.21. The old share capital in Golden Ocean will according to the plan be cancelled while new share capital will be injected by Frontline. In addition, the Joint Plan will provide for the release of upstream guarantees in favour of the bondholders. Fredriksen stated that, “We anticipate that a co-ordination with the Frontline fleet will reduce the Golden Ocean cost structure with approximately USD 10 million per year through a reduction in overhead and ship operating cost.”

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