Hong Leong Finance seeks to wind up yard group Triyards

Singapore

HONG Leong Finance has served a winding-up petition on the yard operating arm of Ezra Holdings, Triyards.

This came after Ezra, as the parent group and holding company, disclosed plans to wrap up the proceedings tied to its US Chapter 11 filing.

Hong Leong Finance has filed an application on Tuesday with Singapore's High Court to wind up Triyards, the yard group said after Thursday's trading close. The hearing for the court application is scheduled for Oct 12.

The financial group is understood to be the second senior lender after DBS to have pursued further legal action against Triyards.

On Monday, Triyards said DBS has appointed Justin Lim Loo Khoon of Deloitte & Touche as receiver for its Singapore-incorporated subsidiary, Strategic Marine and other assets.

These developments have surfaced about 12 months after the yard subsidiary of erstwhile stock market darling, Ezra Holdings, entered into a trading suspension and embarked on a debt restructuring exercise.

Triyards was looking to restructure some US$186.5 million of loans back in September 2017 when it first disclosed its debt revamp plan, according to a Sep 7 court filing by Ezra in the US.

The proposed debt revamp plan for the yard group is anchored by potential rescue financing from Ferrell Vanguard Fund SPC. Its parent holding company, Ezra, had also pursued a separate restructuring exercise that did not go according to its initial plan.

Ezra's restructuring proposal was premised on placing its assets under a separate trust for eventual divestments plus a deal with Asia Fund Space that would see cash and new businesses injected into the holding company.

But the deal with Asia Fund Space had fallen apart and Ezra would now seek to monetise assets held by several business units for the benefit of its creditors, the Sep 7 court filing showed.

After realising the possible recovery for its creditors, Ezra is expected to wrap up its Chapter 11 proceedings and apply to the Singapore High Court to be placed under judicial management (JM).

Lawyer Robson Lee considered the JM application as a reasonable move for Ezra with no more white knight on the horizon and legal costs still mounting in the US.

The move also makes sense "if creditors have no appetite to hold out for the business to rehabilitate in the longer run", he explained.