Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore of China is said to have won a suit against Schahin Group of Brazil regarding two deepwater semi-submersible drilling platforms.

CIMC Group announced through a regulatory filing on September 18 that it received $105.5503m in total including principal of $77.6038m, interest of $27.7163m, and law expense of $230,200, following London Court of International Arbitration's (LCIA's) 2nd and 3rd previous verdicts.

According to the regulatory filing, CIMC Group affiliated CIMC Raffles Offshore (Singapore) scored two deepwater semi-submersible drilling platforms ‘SS Pantanal’ and ‘SS Amazonia’ from a subsidiary of Schahin Group in the past and delivered both platforms in November 2010 and April 2011, respectively. Both companies turned out to have constructed the two platforms through fund appropriation on behalf of Schahin Group and related companies.

However, Schahin Group and related companies failed to repay construction capital of $142.3m in accordance with construction contract along with loan of $66.13m that CIMC Raffles had lent. So, CIMC Raffles and its affiliated companies sued Schahin Group with its related companies to a New York court and LCIA for repayment of the whole amount.

A New York court ruled that Schahin Group refund at full price for fund that CIMC Raffles had already paid, so all the payments were completed at the end of last year. LCIA has carried the 1st, 2nd and 3rd previous verdicts for platform construction capital and ruled that all the funds are refunded. Finally, CIMC Raffles received the whole funds on September 17.

Meanwhile, with dimensions of 105m in length with 73.1m in width, the two semi-submersible drilling platforms are capable of operating in up to 2,400m water and drilling depth of up to 7,500m. They also accommodate 148 persons onboard and meet all the regulations of ABS.