Hyflux CEO to contribute entire stake to restructuring plan

[SINGAPORE] Hyflux said its chief executive officer Olivia Lum volunteered to contribute her entire stake of 267 million shares and other securities in the embattled water-treatment company as part of a restructuring plan.

Ms Lum and the board of directors said all their preference shares and perpetual capital securities are to be distributed solely to all other holders upon completion of the proposed revamp, according to a Feb 16 stock exchange filing.

The Singapore-based firm, whose main asset is one of South-east Asia's biggest desalination plants, has been trying to overcome months of financial distress after a stumble caused by an ill-timed expansion into the energy business. The company is expected to file documents with the city-state's courts that will include details on its restructuring plan.

In October, Hyflux said a consortium comprising the Salim Group and the Medco Group will take a majority stake in the company with an investment totaling S$530 million ($391 million).

"I have volunteered to give up receiving any management shares in the company," Ms Lum said in the statement. "If this restructuring plan is approved, all of the interests of mine and the other board members in Hyflux will be given solely to this group. In this way, it is my hope that they may reap the future benefits which the Salim-Medco consortium deal can offer them."

Hyflux and three of its subsidiaries filed applications to the Singapore High Court for leave to convene a scheme meeting, a separate statement to the stock exchange showed. The Supreme Court Registry has scheduled the hearing for Feb 21.

BLOOMBERG