French yacht maker Poncin reaches bank agreement

PARIS, June 2 (Reuters) - French boat builder Poncin Yachts (PONY.PA) has reached an agreement with its banks and is no longer under protection from its creditors, an executive said on Tuesday.

"Banks have accepted to cancel half of our debt, on condition that the other half is paid back within seven years," Chief Financial Officer David Etien told Reuters.

Poncin, which is based at the port of La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast, has a debt of 20 million euros ($28.4 million). It said in a statement a French court had approved its development plan after the group reached an agreement with its banks.

"Under this agreement, the first two instalments will be reduced, in order to take into account the probable difficulties of the nautical sector in the next two years," the group added.

Poncin filed for protection in May 2008.

"The financial crisis is not really the reason why Poncin sunk in the first place, but ill-advised investments in a new factory built to produce 300 boats and of which they sold only 75," said Annie Bonal, an analyst for Gilbert Dupont in Paris.

"But it gave them the advantage of restructuring before the rest of the sector, and the fact of no longer being under protection from creditors is really favourable commercially, as it reassures clients put off by this status," she added.

"The company still has to deal with competitors and a very sluggish demand, though," she said. (Reporting by Michel Rose and Matthieu Protard)