Debt-laden water treatment firm Hyflux has received a non-binding letter of intent from Oyster Bay Fund in a race to secure a new white knight investor before the end of its extended debt moratorium at the end of this month after its termination of a S$380mil bailout deal with Indonesian conglomerate Salim-Medco Group – via its Singapore arm SM Investments last month.
The Business Times reported Hyflux as saying on Fri (10 May) that international multi-strategy investment fund has expressed its intention to buy preference and ordinary shares in HyfluxShop Holdings, Hyflux’s consumer water business and partially-owned subsidiary, from the company for up to S$26mil.
Hyflux told BT that it “envisions” almost S$500mil worth of investment from Oyster Bay Fund “subject to regulatory clearance, due diligence and the execution of a definitive agreement”.
“The letter of intent (from Oyster Bay Fund) is stated to automatically terminate if a judicial manager or liquidator is appointed over the company,” added Hyflux.
Hyflux had also received a non-binding letter of intent from Emirati utilities group Utico a fortnight ago, which may involve a possible sum of up to S$400mil in Utico’s investment “for equity and working capital purposes and possible urgent interim funding”.
WongPartnership lawyer Smitha Menon, representing Hyflux, told the High Court on Tue (8 May) in response to a question on its progress in finalising its restructuring plan that the Utico “is doing due diligence”.
“It’s a moving timeline. We are dealing with information requests as well as negotiating a possible structure,” she added.
