Singapore

Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, one of Asia’s top oil traders, has applied for a court-appointed supervisor to manage the company and restructure billions of dollars of debt owed to multiple banks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday, Reuters reported. “The company is in the process of applying for judicial management, and at the same time actively looking for strategic partners to raise cash,” said one of the sources with knowledge of the company’s plans.

The collapse of one of Singapore’s biggest oil traders has raised the prospect of a severe liquidity crunch in the city-state’s under-pressure commodities sector, threatening a wave of defaults and bankruptcies, the Financial Times reported. Investors and analysts warn that banks are likely to cut their exposure to the industry after heavily indebted oil trader Hin Leong Trading filed for bankruptcy protection.

HSBC, ABN Amro and Société Générale are among a group of banks owed almost $4bn by Hin Leong, the Singapore oil trader scrambling to restructure its finances as a brutal downturn hits energy markets, the Financial Times reported. The privately owned company, which is controlled by self-made billionaire Lim Oon Kuin, entered talks with its lenders this week about a standstill agreement, said people with knowledge of the situation. It is also exploring a potential rescue deal with Chinese state-run oil company Sinopec, the people said.

HOOQ Digital, a video streaming service majority owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, said it was filing for liquidation as it had not been able to grow sufficiently to provide sustainable returns nor cover escalating costs, Reuters reported. HOOQ was started as a joint venture in 2015 between Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros Entertainment. But it has failed to make major gains as larger rivals such as Netflix Inc expanded in the region.

Singapore is bracing for a further jump in bankruptcies after cases surged to the highest in years even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Bloomberg News reported. The number of individuals filing for bankruptcy soared 47% from a year earlier to 434 in January, the highest since October 2004, according to the latest data from the Law Ministry’s Insolvency Office. Companies in liquidation jumped to 287 last year, the highest since records began in 2005. Singapore’s already-slowing economy is now poised to shrink as the virus slams trade and tourism.

Singapore’s most high-profile restructuring case has attracted a new offer from a Spanish company, adding more uncertainty to a drawn-out process that’s left many retail investors in the lurch, Bloomberg News reported. Water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd. said in an exchange filing that FCC Aqualia SA, which is also in the water management business, plans a potential transaction involving it or its assets, without giving details. Hyflux investors have already been evaluating two different takeover offers and one debt-purchase plan.

Hong Kong plans to introduce its version of U.S.-style “Chapter 11” bankruptcy provisions, a senior government official said, as the city’s worst economic predicament in decades threatens the viability of many companies, Reuters reported. Hong Kong does not have a formal corporate rescue framework, unlike most other major financial centers including fierce rival Singapore, after previous attempts to introduce one met with resistance from lawmakers and labor representatives who were worried plans did not offer enough protection for workers.

The Securities Investors Association (Singapore) invited Hyflux Ltd. to a townhall meeting for the company to respond to investors’ concerns about its debt-restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. SIAS proposed holding the townhall between March 11 and 17, the association said in a letter posted on its website. The investor advocacy group will hold a follow-up meeting with its advisers and investors.

Commodity trader Trafigura has reached an agreement to buy and then sell on a stake in Puma Energy from a retired Angolan general, aiding the efforts of the debt-laden fuel supplier to attract more lenders and investors, the Financial Times reported. Under a complex deal announced on Monday, Cochan Holdings, an investment vehicle controlled by Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento — widely known as “General Dino” — will reduce its stake in Puma from 15 per cent to less than 5 per cent.

Hontop Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the trading arm of a Shandong-based refiner, has gone into receivership, according to its business profile on the website of Singapore’s accounting and corporate regulator, Reuters reported. Singapore bank DBS, one of Hontop’s creditors, has appointed accounting firm KPMG as the receiver, a KPMG official told Reuters. DBS declined to comment. “Hontop continues to be run by the existing management. The receiver has been appointed over specific charged assets which mainly relate to one trade transaction financed by DBS.