Singapore

Koon Holdings on Wednesday said that creditors have approved the scheme of arrangement for its subsidiary Koon Construction & Transport (KCT), as part of the group’s debt restructuring exercise, the Business Times reported. However, Koon Holdings has yet to put its own proposed scheme to a vote, as its creditors’ meeting on Tuesday was adjourned. Before the meeting began, a major creditor had requested the adjournment because it would like to receive more information before committing its vote, Koon Holdings said in a bourse filing.

Singapore’s embattled water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd. has received interest from a new investor, a day before its next court hearing, adding yet another twist to the nation’s most high-profile debt restructuring case that has dragged for more than 18 months, Bloomberg News reported. Hyflux received a letter from Longview International Holdings expressing interest in investing in the company together with an undisclosed “major Chinese entity” as a joint venture partner, according to a filing. The statement didn’t provide any further details on the plan.

Singapore Exchange Ltd. published a list of firms that are now required to provide quarterly earnings reports based on its risk-based approach, a few weeks after the city-state scrapped the requirement for most companies, Bloomberg News reported. Hyflux Ltd. and Best World International Ltd. were among 109 names published on the SGX website. The companies either have a qualified report from auditors, worries about them as a going concern or have been identified by the exchange itself for regulatory concerns.

Aqua Munda, the little-known investor looking to purchase about S$1.8 billion worth of Hyflux’s debts, has extended the deadline of its offer for the second time, CNA reported. It is giving eligible creditors about three more weeks until 5pm on Feb 22 to submit their bids, Aqua Munda said in a press statement on Monday (Feb 3), citing “significant additional concerns” about Hyflux’s situation following a change of legal advisers at the embattled water treatment firm.

Some of the mom and pop investors desperate to recover money from Singapore’s embattled water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd. are losing confidence they’ll get much of anything back as the wait drags on, Bloomberg News reported. In the latest twist to the city-state’s most high-profile debt restructuring, Hyflux’s legal adviser this week expressed its intent to resign from the case due to “loss of confidence,” while the company said in turn that it has lost trust in its adviser and has since appointed new ones.

Deutsche Bank AG and a Singapore based hedge fund bought more debt of an embattled Indian shadow lender, highlighting the growing foreign interest in the discounted assets of the financier at the center of a credit crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Deutsche Bank has almost doubled the debt it holds of Altico Capital India Ltd. to 3 billion rupees ($42.1 million) in the last four months, while Singapore-based Broad Peak Investment Advisers Ltd. has acquired debt of about 1 billion rupees, people familiar with the matter said.

Singapore Exchange Ltd’s (SGX) regulatory unit is looking into imposing stricter regulations for listed retail bonds, including tightening the admission criteria, a move that follows a high profile default by water treatment company Hyflux, Reuters reported. In a statement on Thursday, Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) said it had set up a working group comprising representatives from law firms, banks and an investor group to review the retail bonds regulatory framework.

Embattled water treatment firm Hyflux's TuasOne waste-to-energy facility is expected to be operational in January 2021, said the National Environment Agency (NEA), The Straits Times reported. The agency said it has been monitoring discussions among the stakeholders of the TuasOne project and "is supportive of the stakeholders' actions taken to complete the project expeditiously". Hyflux said in a bourse filing yesterday that the new agreement to ensure continued funding for the TuasOne waste-to-energy project will have an "overall material adverse impact" on Hyflux's financial performance.

Having just signed a deal with Middle Eastern suitor Utico FZC, crisis-hit Hyflux Ltd. is facing a fresh challenge -- how to allocate S$40 million ($29 million) of fees among restructuring advisers, Bloomberg News reported. The Singapore water treatment company needs to get its advisers to agree on how to split the pot, or Utico has the right to walk away, according to the deal terms. The problem was discussed in a court hearing in Singapore on Friday. Lawyers and consultants have been working for more than 1 1/2 years on Hyflux, the nation’s most high-profile debt restructuring.

Troubled Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd. has entered a restructuring deal with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC. Under the agreement, Hyflux will get investment totaling S$400 million ($293 million) from Utico, according to an exchange filing, Yahoo! Finance reported on a Bloomberg News story. The pact caps drawn out negotiations between the two companies. Hyflux, Singapore’s highest profile debt restructuring, had been looking for a white knight investor after a deal with Indonesian consortium SM Investments fell through in April.