Debt-laden Hyflux clarifies still hammering out terms of scheme of arrangement

WATER treatment firm Hyflux is still working towards formulating the terms of a scheme of arrangement involving creditors, the group said, dismissing recent media articles reporting the purported details of a formal plan proposed to its senior unsecured financial creditors as mere speculation.

In a filing with the Singapore Exchange on Friday, Hyflux said: "The company and its advisers will engage with various stakeholder groups to obtain their views on the intended scheme of arrangement to be proposed to creditors, and this process is currently underway and expected to continue over at least the next one to two months and will progressively extend to the various stakeholder groups."

It added that from time to time, the company will need to sound out the various stakeholders to ascertain "which options and permutations may be viable", adding that the company is not in a position currently to put forward a finalised and definitive restructuring proposal.

The company highlighted that it will make an announcement on the Singapore Exchange once the formal proposal for the scheme of arrangement is finalised, and an application is ready to be submitted to the court for leave to convene creditor meetings for considering, and potentially adopting, the scheme of arrangement.

In October, debt-strapped Hyflux secured a white knight in the form of SM Investments - a consortium between Salim Group and Medco Group - which has stepped in to offer a S$400 million equity injection in exchange for a 60 per cent stake in the company once Hyflux has settled all its debts. SM Investments is also granting Hyflux certain loans to help finance it through the restructuring.