Lippo offer doesn't save Healthway shareholders from Cayman loan

A TAKEOVER offer launched earlier this week for Catalist-listed Healthway Medical Corporation (HMC) from Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group will likely be welcome news to many minority shareholders of Singapore's largest medical chain.

But as things seem right now, not even a group with Lippo's financial muscle will be able to rescue the company from a massive and onerous loan agreement it has entered into, which has left shareholders caught in between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Shareholders of HMC still face a choice between paying the lender 16.5 per cent in interest or letting the lender convert the loan amount into shares that would result in a severe dilution. That comes on top of giving the lender control over the appointment of top management, two board seats and veto power over major transactions. And if HMC pays off the loan early, it still has to cough up heavy penalties.