Accounting, Reporting & Tax
Consolidation of Vessel SPVs
Summary
Consolidation brings controlled vessel special purpose vehicles (SPVs) into group financial statements even where they remain separate legal entities.
Why this matters in ship finance
Group-level results can hide individual ship debt restrictions and cash trapped in subsidiaries.
The concept
Under IFRS 10, control depends on power over an investee, exposure to variable returns and ability to affect returns. Legal shareholding is informative but not the sole test.
How it is used in practice
Test structured ownership, voting and contractual rights, non-controlling interests, intra-group balances and changes in control.
Practical issues
Accounting consolidation does not merge legal entities or make one SPV’s assets automatically available to another’s lender.
How ShipFinance.ai uses this concept
Create reconciliations from group accounts to ship-level cash, debt and security packages.
Key takeaways
- IFRS control is not defined solely by share percentage.
- Group reporting does not dissolve legal SPV boundaries.
- Bridge consolidated and ship-level debt, cash and security.