Singapore-based water treatment firm Hyflux has reportedly delayed a town hall meeting with suitor Utico to allow Pison Investments to put forward its proposal to some holders of preference shares and perpetual securities (PnP).
Utico had earlier on (1 Oct) extended the deadline to 15 October for Hyflux to accept its proposed rescue deal, from its previous deadline 30 August.
The Emirati firm said that it would “once again like to reaffirm” its proposed rescue deal for Hyflux, and planned to engage with PnP holders in a virtual town hall on Saturday (10 Oct).
However, Utico claimed that Hyflux had postponed the town hall meeting to give Pison Investments time to make an offer to its PnP holders, as reported by Bloomberg.
In a press statement on Saturday, Utico urged Hyflux to proceed with the town hall meeting as scheduled or delayed to Sunday (11 Oct).
Pison Investments had previously announced that it will extend its offer for senior creditors to accept its buyout offer of Hyflux until 4 September, after it saw positive responses from creditors requesting for additional time to submit their application.
But Utico claimed that Pison did not make any offer to PnP holders, adding that the recovery for their binding offer is higher than Pison’s.
Meanwhile, the unsecured working group (UWG) of bank lenders has sought to place Hyflux under judicial management order on 13 August.
The group intended to carve out of Hyflux’s debt moratorium, arguing that it can no longer trust the firm’s management to lead any restructuring effort.
On 9 September, Utico said that its binding offer will remain open for acceptance whether or not Hyflux is going to placed under judicial management order, in view of Hyflux remains listed in the SGX without risk of delisting.