Hyflux crisis puts focus on its management

WHEN Hyflux meets its retail stakeholders, as it eventually must to get their buy-in for any debt restructuring plan, founder Olivia Lum will have a lot of explaining to do. And after all that has happened, it would be fair to argue that many investors will not be confident that the current management can lead Hyflux out of the rut.

The water project developer gulped down a full S$900 million in cash and Central Provident Fund (CPF) monies during two massive fund-raising rounds in 2011 and 2016. Thousands of ordinary folks are still hanging on to Hyflux's preference shares and perpetual securities issued in those years.

Ms Lum wrote in a letter to stakeholders on May 22 that Hyflux has been "proactive" in engaging financial and legal advisers, the same day it filed for a court-supervised debt revamp.