THE news that water treatment firm Hyflux has sought court protection while it reorganises its liabilities was unwelcome but not entirely unexpected.

Trouble had been brewing for months now amid the delay in divesting its capital-intensive assets. Its Tianjin plant in China did not find a buyer. Neither had it any success in divesting its power and water desalination plant Tuaspring in Singapore. Depressed electricity prices in Singapore had not been working in the company's favour with the result that 2017 saw the first full-year loss since it started operating. Compounding the company's woes were difficulties in collecting debts from overseas customers.

It appears that the recent uptick in oil prices was too little, too late for this once-proud bearer of the flag for Singapore entrepreneurship.