Singapore

Singapore Exchange's new rules for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are likely to help it attract regional funds and fast-growing firms, as it seeks to revitalise a staid market for equity listings, market participants said, Reuters reported. Some of them expect Southeast Asian startups, especially from the tech sector, to take advantage of SGX becoming the first Asian bourse to allow SPAC listings since the investment frenzy in SPACs started in the United States last year, although the interest is peaking there.

Singapore Exchange is preparing to roll out easier guidelines for listings of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in the city-state, which would make it the first major Asian bourse to accept such investment vehicles, Reuters reported. The changes come after SGX, which has struggled to capture large listings of high-growth companies, received market feedback that some of its earlier proposals were too strict.

City Developments Ltd, run by Singapore’s richest property dynasty, reported a first-half loss on the fallout from the pandemic and said it is mulling a deeper China presence after being stung by write downs on an earlier investment, Bloomberg News reported. Travel restrictions caused revenues to decline at the firm’s hotel operations and investment properties, while the withdrawal of Covid tax relief plans contributed to a S$32.1 million ($23.7 million) loss in the first six months.

Singapore Airlines faces an uneven road to recovery as the more contagious delta variant of the new coronavirus and a persisting pandemic threaten to upend the resumption of mass travel worldwide, Nikkei Asia reported. The Singapore Exchange-listed company on Thursday reported a net loss of 409 million Singapore dollars ($302 million) for the April to June quarter -- the first in its new financial year, after racking up an annual net loss of SG$4.27 billion the year before.

A creditor of Chinese electric car startup Byton filed a court petition for the embattled company's bankruptcy on Monday, a local court record showed, Dow Jones Newswires reported. A Shanghai-based software supplier has requested the court to start the bankruptcy proceedings for Nanjing Zhixing New Energy Vehicle Technology Development Co., or Byton, according to the court record. The court hasn't accepted the petition as Byton is seeking a settlement with the creditors, the company said in a statement.

Hyflux Ltd.’s judicial manager brought a plan to liquidate the Singapore company before a court on Monday, following a years-long saga in one of the city-state’s most high-profile distressed cases, Bloomberg News reported. The hearing comes after the court-appointed manager in charge of the water treatment company since November applied last month to wind up the firm. Judicial manager Borrelli Walsh Ltd. said in a statement in June that “the remaining value” of the Hyflux Group is best realized in a liquidation.

Singapore property group City Developments Limited (CDL) has said it will continue to limit further exposure to a China unit, which is now facing a bankruptcy claim, the Straits Times reported. CDL reiterated in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday that it has "ring-fenced its current financial exposure" to its investment in Sincere Property, and will not support the unit's continuing financial obligations. "Despite the bankruptcy proceedings, the group will continue to strenuously protect its position and limit further exposure," said CDL.

The bankruptcy hearing of Terence Loh, the co-founder of Novena Global Healthcare (NGH) on Thursday (July 8) resulted in the High Court granting the order, The Singapore Independent reported. His proposal to the High Court last April for a “white knight” to seek refinancing for his loan of $24 million with DBS Bank fell through. Moreover, he planned on entering a voluntary arrangement with his creditors, so he could repay them. But by June, his lawyer, Muralli Rajaram of K&L Gates Straits Law, told the High Court that he would no longer proceed with the voluntary arrangement.

Singapore’s richest property dynasty pledged to continue to limit its exposure to its cash-strapped China unit, which is now facing a bankruptcy claim, Bloomberg News reported. City Developments Ltd. said that it has “ring-fenced its current financial exposure to its investment” in Chongqing Sincere Yuanchuang Industrial Co. and “will not support” the continuing obligations of the Chinese developer. “Despite the bankruptcy proceedings, the group will continue to strenuously protect its position and limit further exposure,” CDL said in a statement filed to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday.

EAGLE Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (EH-Reit), which is part of Singapore-based Eagle Hospitality Trust (EHT), has received net proceeds of about U.S. $153.9 million following the sale of five chapter 11 properties, the Singapore Business Times reported. The net proceeds have been partially used to repay the debtor-in-possession facility and the stalking horse "break up" fee, EH-Reit trustee DBS Trustee said in a bourse filing on Thursday. The balance remaining is around $109.7 million, which will go to repaying ongoing post-petition expenses and pre-petition creditors.