SINGAPORE, Oct 15 — Beleaguered water treatment firm Hyflux has managed to secure a deadline extension from Maybank to find a buyer for its S$1.47 billion (RM6.1 billion) Tuaspring plant.
The Malaysian bank is the only secured lender of Hyflux’s combined water desalination and power plant.
In a company filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) today, Hyflux announced that the deadline to execute a binding agreement with a successful bidder has been extended to October 29.
This is two weeks from its original deadline of Monday, which was previously agreed with Maybank and announced in a July 6 filing on the SGX.
Last Friday, the Singapore-based firm announced in an exchange filing that two parties interested in purchasing the plant had been prequalified to access confidential information about the asset, and that one of them had placed a bid.
Hyflux said last week that it was assessing the bid, which was subject to approvals from the relevant authorities.
The company has been trying to sell its Tuaspring plant since February to repay its creditors. Once regarded as the darling and trailblazer of Singapore’s entrepreneurial scene, Hyflux is undergoing a court-supervised reorganisation after chalking up a debt of S$2.95 billion, as of March 31.
According to a October 2 Bloomberg report, Sembcorp Industries was the only party that submitted a bid for the Tuaspring project, with the offer below its book value of S$1.47 billion.
Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, the report said that Keppel did not submit a bid by the October 1 deadline despite showing initial interest.
The two Singaporean companies were the only ones granted approval by authorities to access detailed information of the plant.
Hyflux Chief Executive Officer Olivia Lum said earlier that the firm was required to submit the names of potential investors to the authorities as part of the divestment process. Approval from national water agency PUB was necessary “every step of the way”, given that Tuaspring is a strategic water asset in Singapore. — TODAY
