KS Energy files for liquidation

Tay Peck Gek

Published Fri, Feb 10, 2023 · 06:54 PM

OIL services firm KS Energy – which is under judicial management – has filed for its winding up, with the High Court scheduled to hear the application on Feb 24.

The Singapore Exchange mainboard-listed company made the application on Jan 27, days after it announced that the deal to transfer its listing status for S$3 million to logistics company Jacobson Global Logistics (Singapore) was off.

Creditors or shareholders of KS Energy who want to support or oppose the winding up application may appear at the hearing, said the winding up notice published in the government gazette on Friday (Feb 10).

Judicial managers for KS Energy have applied to be discharged, and instead be appointed as the joint and several liquidators of the company.

The managers had stated in their announcement in January 2022 that the agreement to transfer the listing status could offer potentially better returns for shareholders. But in the event of liquidation, shareholders are unlikely to have any distribution after payment to the creditors.

Due to the unfulfilment of all the conditions required for the agreement to be valid, the listing transfer deal was aborted. Other companies in distress have in the past also attempted to transfer their listing status, but without much success.

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KS Energy and a key operating subsidiary KS Drilling were placed under judicial management in October 2020 despite objection from its Indonesian founder tycoon Kris Wiluan. The court application was made by OCBC, which sought to recover some US$235 million in debt.

Wiluan had led KS Energy for decades. He was fined S$480,000 by the State Courts in 2021 on three counts of market rigging involving the shares of KS Energy.

At its peak, KS Energy had a market capitalisation of just under S$1 billion and some 1,000 employees. The counter has been suspended since August 2020, when its market value stood at S$17 million.