Singapore

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.

A Singapore court has approved a freeze on up to $3.5 billion of assets of the family behind collapsed Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, boosting the prospect of debt recovery from the former oil trading empire that counts some of the world’s biggest banks among its creditors, Reuters reported. Hin Leong was wound up in March after failing in a year-long effort to restructure more than $3 billion in debts after the COVID-19-led oil crash laid bare huge losses.

Qantas Airways Ltd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd. are traveling in opposite directions when it comes to the coronavirus crisis, with the former emerging strongly thanks to its buoyant home market and the latter mired in trouble with record losses as it can barely fly anywhere, Bloomberg News reported. While not out of the woods just yet, Qantas said Thursday it expects revenue from routes within Australia to almost double in the six months through June from the second half of last year.

The National Wages Council (NWC) convened today to relook at guidelines on wage- and employment-related issues amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Straits Times reported. In its deliberations, it will take into account the domestic and global economic situations and outlook given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Singapore's pace of recovery, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Wednesday.

An excess of $370 million in wage support was erroneously paid out last year after the Singaporean government used the wrong dates to determine the amount that 5,400 companies should get, the Straits Times reported. The same error also resulted in an excess of $1.2 million being paid out in foreign worker levy waivers and rebates to 360 companies.

A ruling on a request to freeze the assets of Lim Oon Kuin and his two children following the collapse of Lim’s oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd will be made at a later date, following a whole day’s hearing at the Singapore High Court, Reuters reported. Court-appointed liquidators of Hin Leong had asked the court to freeze the family’s assets worldwide, from multi-million-dollar homes to country club memberships, shares and funds to recover money owed to nearly two dozen banks and other creditors globally.