Paring down debt pile top of mind for honestbee's new CEO

Ong Lay Ann hopes to restructure the startup's debt and attract strategic partners to turn struggling grocery delivery business around

Sharanya Pillai

Published Mon, Jul 29, 2019 · 09:50 PM

honestbee

Singapore

A CONSORTIUM of white knights and strategic partners is what honestbee's newly-minted chief executive Ong Lay Ann believes will turn the embattled grocery delivery startup around.

But first, paring down honestbee's debt is his immediate priority, Mr Ong, who was appointed on July 15, told The Business Times in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Mr Ong identified two main groups that honestbee owes "a large debt" to - the merchants it worked with and "a whole lot" of investors who subscribed to convertible notes that honestbee issued as part of fundraising. honestbee declined to share the sum owed to either group.

"There needs to be a certain level of restructuring (of debt) to resolve all of this ... The way that the capital structure (of honestbee) was set up, we ended up with a lot of creditors. Those all need to be addressed at one go. As part of …