Hyflux lenders to restart process to put firm under judicial management

A GROUP of bank lenders is seeking to put Hyflux under judicial management (JM), after two years of a court-sanctioned restructuring process that has continued to leave creditors empty-handed.

An unsecured working group (UWG) of banks comprising Mizuho, KfW, Bangkok Bank, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered Bank, CTBC Bank and the Korea Development Bank plans to revive their earlier application to be carved out of Hyflux's debt moratorium, a Singapore High Court heard during Hyflux's case management conference on Thursday.

Hyflux is currently under a debt moratorium under Section 211B of the Companies Act, which gives it court protection from creditors until July 30.

If a carve-out is approved, the UWG banks plan to file an application to appoint judicial managers over Hyflux to replace the present management.

The UWG had first applied for a carve-out in May last year, but failed to win approval from the court. Hyflux resisted the application, arguing that judicial management applications often end with the company in liquidation.

However, Justice Aedit Abdullah said last year that the application could be revived if circumstances change. "A moratorium is supposed to be a temporary solution," he said then, adding that Hyflux cannot be given a "blank cheque".

Hyflux's next pre-trial conference is expected to take place by July 30, before the moratorium expires.