Hyflux gathers S$3.5 billion in proofs of claims from 73 parties

Water treatment firm Hyflux has received proof of claims from 73 parties, amounting to S$3.51 billion, the firm announced in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The list of claimants ranges from banks, to landlords, to retail investors. The filing of proofs is a requirement before the claimant is entitled to vote on the restructuring proposal at the scheme meeting scheduled on April 5th.

On the list, retail investors in Hyflux’s perpetual securities and preference shares have filed proofs of claim amounts totalling close to a billion dollars. Owners of Hyflux’s S$500 million 6% perpetual securities have filed claims of S$540.7 million, while owners of the group’s preference shares have filed claims worth S$429.3 million.

Project firm Tahlyat Myah Magtaa in Algeria, North Africa has filed a proof of claim worth S$502.6 million for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and an operations and maintenance contract parent guarantee that is tied to the group’s Magtaa desalination plant.

Bank claimants such as DBS Bank is asking for claims of S$109.2 million for a syndicated loan and various EPC contract performance bonds. Mizuho Bank in Singapore is seeking to claim S$183.2 million for a syndicated loan, bilateral loan and project delivery guarantee.

Before the scheme meeting, Hyflux is scheduled to meet retail investors in a third round of townhall meetings on March 13th.

Putting out fires

The firm has been making headlines in recent weeks, with investor watchdog the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) last month querying the water treatment company on not providing critical information regarding the operations, valuation and accountability of the board of directors of Hyflux, in a bid to help frustrated retail investors to make an informed decision on the restructuring.

On Saturday, Hyflux wrote in a statement it submitted to the High Court of the Republic of Singapore it took an impairment hit of S$916 million for the first nine months of last year, to adjust to the fall in carrying value of the Tuaspring water and power plant and other write-downs.

On Tuesday, Singapore’s national water agency PUB issued a default notice to Hyflux’s Tuaspring for failing to keep its desalination plant in a ‘reliably operational’ mode as required under the Water Purchase Agreement.

The PUB has given Tuaspring a 30-day notice to remedy any defaults and said it will exercise its right to terminate the agreement and ‘take control of the plant’ if the defaults are not fixed.