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Hyflux RPCS aka Securities

Freeder

By Freeder,
in Lite & EZ

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Kyrios

Kyrios

Turbocharged

I dun know man...somehow I always see our quasi national assets being sold off cheaply to foreign powers...

 

one day if they decide to turn off the tap...because of some country to country international disputes..well....

 

damn you traitors...

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Voodooman

Voodooman

Supersonic
(edited)
World class water company building sub par plants everywhere around the world, how is that possible that they survive for so long?

 

From BT.

 

Noting that every Hyflux asset has material faults and defaults, Mr Gerald also questioned the board on the scrutiny the firm applied to the operations of its main assets and why these faults were not described or announced in annual reports.

 

The assets include Qurayyat and Magtaa which have operational defects and cannot operate at or close to capacity. Tuaspring and Tianjin Dagang are lossmaking and cannot service their debt with cashflow from operations, while TuasOne and Tlemcen are not complete.

Edited by Voodooman
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Kusje

Kusje

Supersonic

Took big Salary despite of losses.? [furious]  [furious]  [furious] $60 Mil..could buy 3 GCB.

 

60m is the dividends from her ownership of the shares. All ordinary shareholders get it.

 

Different from salary so don't be confused.

 

Not sure why SIAS likes to ask stupid qns for the sake of asking.

 

 

 

“Hyflux Group has generated negative operating cashflow in every year since 2009. Was this highlighted to bondholders and shareholders? If so, in what form? Why did the Board continue to pay dividends, when the operating cashflow was negative and accumulate more debt during this time?” 

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hyflux-questioned-over-ceo-olivia-lum-remuneration-financial-11229034

 

Isn't it all stated in the annual report? Shareholders don't bother to read so companies need to pay money to advertise in the newspapers next time?

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Angcheek

Angcheek

Hypersonic

World class water company building sub par plants everywhere around the world, how is that possible that they survive for so long?

 

From BT.

 

Noting that every Hyflux asset has material faults and defaults, Mr Gerald also questioned the board on the scrutiny the firm applied to the operations of its main assets and why these faults were not described or announced in annual reports.

 

The assets include Qurayyat and Magtaa which have operational defects and cannot operate at or close to capacity. Tuaspring and Tianjin Dagang are lossmaking and cannot service their debt with cashflow from operations, while TuasOne and Tlemcen are not complete.

Maybe sponsor from gic or temasek
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DACH

DACH

Supersonic
(edited)

Hyflux's retail investors face losses under proposed restructuring plan
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/hyflux-s-retail-investors-face-losses-under-proposed-11249968

 

SINGAPORE: For every S$1,000 invested, a holder of Hyflux’s perpetual securities and preference shares will recover S$106.54, or an implied return rate of 10.7 per cent, under the company’s newly announced restructuring proposal. 

This includes a cash payout of S$30.15 and an implied equity return of S$76.39.

 

For medium-term noteholders, who are of a higher priority on the creditors’ list, the implied return rate is 24.6 per cent, or S$246.35 for every S$1,000 invested.

The cash component for this is S$138.72, while the implied equity return is S$107.63 if the restructuring goes through.

This breakdown in implied returns for investors was made known at a briefing organised by Hyflux on Saturday (Feb 16) afternoon, hours after it announced its closely-watched restructuring plan.

The media session was chaired by a Hyflux spokesperson, alongside the company's legal and financial advisors. Top executives from the company were not present.

 

Hyflux's proposed rescue plan comes nearly nine months after the former star company unexpectedly embarked on a restructuring exercise last May and halted trading in all of its SGX-listed shares, leaving tens of thousands of investors reeling.

Last October, it announced a potential lifeline from Indonesian consortium SM Investments, which proposed to invest S$530 million – S$400 million equity injection and a S$130 million shareholder's loan – in exchange for a 60 per cent stake. This values Hyflux at S$667 million.

Out of the S$400 million, S$129 million has been set aside for working capital, leaving about S$271 million for the restructuring, Hyflux's financial advisor told reporters at the briefing.

 

Under the proposed plan, unsecured creditors will be allocated S$232 million in cash and 27 per cent of the company’s shares post-restructuring.
 
Holders of perpetual securities and preference shares will receive a cash payout of S$27 million and 10.26 per cent of shares. They also get an additional “top-up” from founder-CEO Olivia Lum and the company’s board of directors, who had earlier said they would be contributing their stakes in the company, as well as entitlements from the restructuring, for redistribution among other stakeholders.

 

The company’s spokesperson said this was decided after “extensive negotiations” with creditors.

Still, for many retail investors that Channel NewsAsia spoke to, the proposed recovery rates would translate into significant losses for them.

 

When asked by Channel NewsAsia how confident is the company in terms of convincing stakeholders to back them up given the low return rates, the financial advisor replied: “We know that the outcome is very difficult given the size of potential losses. However, we do think this is the best option that we have … and it is much better than the alternative (of) liquidation.”

 

Hyflux had previously said that in a liquidation scenario, senior unsecured creditors can expect returns of about 3.8 to 8.7 per cent. However, those holding on to perpetual securities and preference shares would not be able to recover a single cent.

 

Advisors stressed that SM Investments – made up of Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group and energy giant Medco Group – is a “serious investor” looking to grow its investments, and has complementary strengths with extensive involvements in the water and power sectors. 

The Indonesian consortium also has “financial firepower”.

 

“With their existing business connections and synergies they can bring to existing businesses of Hyflux, we think they are a very good partner to walk forward with and their offer was the best that we received,” he said.

Advisors also said Hyflux “will be almost debt-free” post-restructuring, save for some “secured bank debt” on the Tuaspring Integrated Water and Power Plant and some other assets.

 

This leaves the company with a “much stronger balance sheet”, alongside support from a “strong, strategic partner”.

“One can be sure that the investors are looking to grow their investments over the years so the hope for (retail investors when it comes to the) equity portion is that they have an opportunity to ride along with the Salim Group, and hopefully recover all of their money in the future,” said the advisor. 

 

“This is like a day-1 return. If people don’t sell their equity immediately, then there’s the prospect that it could get better over time.”

 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

 

Following Saturday’s announcement, Hyflux has a packed schedule ahead as the clock ticks down to an Apr 16 deadline it has with SM Investments. The company’s court-sanctioned moratorium ends on Apr 30.

First up is a court hearing on Feb 21 for its application to convene a scheme meeting with all creditors. If approved, it will proceed with a scheme meeting on Apr 5.

 

To pass, the scheme will need to be approved by at least 50 per cent in number and 75 per cent in value of each creditor class. “If one class fails, the scheme fails,” said Hyflux’s legal advisor.

Hyflux will also hold its third round of town hall meetings with holders of its notes, perpetual securities and preferences shares, as well as ordinary shares on Mar 13.

 

Channel NewsAsia has also reported that an “independent” investor-only town hall session is being planned. Details will be confirmed by the Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) in coming days.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________


ST post big big on today's paper.

 

Hyflux in hot water: 6 things about embattled CEO Olivia Lum

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/hyflux-in-hot-water-6-things-about-embattled-ceo-olivia-lum

 

SINGAPORE - Once upon a time, it seemed she rode a perpetually cresting wave from one success to the next.

But now, Hyflux chief executive Olivia Lum can only watch as the water treatment firm she founded 30 years ago struggles not to drown.

On Saturday (Feb 16), Ms Lum volunteered her entire stake of 267 million shares and securities- about 34 per cent of Hyflux's ordinary shares - as part of a proposed restructuring plan for the beleaguered company, which is now insolvent.

About a week before, the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) had raised a slew of questions, including Ms Lum's "large remuneration, even as the firm racked up debt and losses, and the "faults and defects" in its assets.

Here are six things about the embattled CEO's life.

 

1. SMALL-TOWN ORPHAN IN A BIG CITY

 

Olivia Lum was born in a small town called Kampar, in Perak, Malaysia.

Abandoned at birth, she was brought up by an illiterate Chinese woman - "Grandmother" - who doted on her but had a weakness for gambling and would play mahjong for as long as 10 hours every day.

"Most of the time she lost money," she told The Straits Times in an interview in October 2001.

"I was always worried that one day she would lose all her money, and we would have no home, no food."

It was also a town where many experienced hard times.

"I came from a small town where many people were not doing well. I saw them struggle. I considered myself fortunate to be able to study and to like to study," Ms Lum said.

And study she did. She did so well that her school's deputy principal said she should think about going to a big city like Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

1n 1977, at Secondary 3, she took the advice and with little more than the blessing of her grandmother and relatives, headed for Singapore.

The gutsy 16-year-old sought out three women who used to be her neighbours and who had come to the Republic to find work on construction sites.

They let her share their rented room in an old shophouse while she continued her schooling at the then Tiong Bahru Secondary School.

Her O-level exam results were good: 6 As and 2 Bs. She secured a place in the top-ranking Hwa Chong Junior College.

But her young life took a turn for the worse when her grandmother fell ill and was hospitalised for nearly a year.

"Almost every weekend, I would ride my bike up to the hospital in KL. Sometimes, when I felt too tired, I took a train or night bus. It was traumatic," she said.

Eventually, she arranged for her grandmother to be hospitalised in nearby Johor Baru. While sitting her A-levels, her grandmother died.

"I remember sitting my biology paper. Halfway, I couldn't continue the exam. I was crying and the papers were becoming wet with tears."

Nevertheless, she managed to get A-level results that clinched her a spot to study chemistry at the National University of Singapore - the place that would pave the way for her later successes.

 

2. AN ENTREPRENEUR SINCE YOUNG

 

Even as a secondary school student in Malaysia, Ms Lum was a shrewd businesswoman.

Worried that her grandmother's gambling habits were endangering the household's finances, she started selling gifts she received during festive periods and taking sandwiches from home to sell to her classmates.

"I didn't eat any of the sandwiches as I didn't want to lose the opportunity to sell every one of them. I became very skinny," she told ST in 2001.

One day, her fears came true. The family was forced to downgrade from their terrace house with a garden to a small wooden house.

But the experience made her even more determined: "All I cared then was to make as much money as I could in case my grandmother gambled away all her money."

Her business acumen was recognised in secondary school by the husband of one of her teachers. He gave her pairs of jeans to sell for a commission to her schoolmates.

When she moved to Singapore, she covered fees for school and paid the rent by giving tuition.

"Immediately after school, I would rush off. I had two or three groups of pupils a day," she said. She even bought a motorcycle to travel faster to her students' homes.

On weekends, she worked as a promoter in department stores, peddling anything from cosmetics to smoke detectors.

"It was a good experience. I learnt how to approach people and gauge their response," she said.

In the six months or so before her first year of university, she was once again working hard.

While her classmates went on holidays, she was knocking on doors in Housing Board estates, selling insurance, cosmetics, flower pots, souvenirs, among other things.

With the profits, she struck up a partnership to run a canteen at construction sites - first in Katong and then in Bukit Timah.

"I helped out after lectures," she recalled. "There were busy times such as 3pm and 5pm when the workers took their breaks."

 

3. THE START OF SOMETHING BIG

 

Before she finished her university exams, she was offered a job as a chemist by industry giant Glaxo Pharmaceuticals.

Even then, she already had ambitions of being her own boss. But that had to wait: The year was 1986 and the economy was mired in a recession.

Her chemist job allowed her to buy a condominium in Bayshore within months for just around $210,000 with no down payment.

But more importantly, her job allowed her to learn about how industrial water is treated before it is discharged. In this, she saw an opportunity.

After three years at Glaxo, she took the plunge.

She raised funds by selling her condo unit for a profit, paid off her car loan and moved into a rented HDB flat.

And so at 28, Ms Lum set up her own business: Hydrochem.

She pooled together $20,000 in starting capital, which she used to set up shop in a cramped office in Tampines Industrial Park with one clerk and one technician.

Trying to sell equipment for treating water was tough but not enough to shake her resolve.

Since firms in Singapore did not want the risk of dealing with someone new and unknown, she turned her attention to Malaysia and Indonesia.

At dawn, she would drive out to the textile factories in Batu Pahat in Johor to peddle her wares.

"I almost gave up in the first year," she told ST in 2001. To improve her cash flow, she sold her car and settled for a motorcycle.

But the tough early days would soon bear fruit.

 

4. 2001: 'I ALWAYS KNEW I WOULD MAKE IT BIG'

 

In the 90s, Hyflux ventured into China, securing several deals, investing in proprietary technology. But the big year for Ms Lum was 2001.

In January 2001, on her 40th birthday, Hyflux launched its initial public offer on the Singapore Exchange's Sesdaq board.

The stock rocketed, climbing 131 per cent.

That $20,000 she put into the company she started multiplied in the dozen years since 1989 to become around $70 million.

Her clients included multinational companies such as STMicroelectronics, Hitachi Chemical Asia-Pacific and Sanyo Air-Conditioners Manufacturing, and even Jurong Bird Park.

But 2001 was also a landmark year for other reasons.

It was in that year that Ms Lum's firm won the tender to supply and install equipment for the country's first Newater plant.

Hyflux developed the membrane technology that made it possible for Singapore to recycle water, resulting in the water now synonymous with Singapore and served at important events like National Day.

The technology also put Singapore on the map as a global hub for water management and treatment - a position it still enjoys today with water standards that exceed the World Health Organisation's.

In 2001, she also became a Nominated Member of Parliament, marked as a star in the large push to spur innovation and grow Singapore's small and medium-sized enterprises.

"I always knew I would make it big," said the soft-spoken Ms Lum in 2001. And she did.

This recognition would be one of many for the entrepreneur, who won Her World magazine's Woman Of The Year award in 2003.

By 2005, she had a net worth of over US$240 million, which earned her a place as the only woman on Forbes' South-east Asia Rich List.

She was also ranked 17th in Forbes magazine's first Singapore rich list in 2006, and Forbes list of Asia's top 50 businesswomen in 2012.

 

5. CLOSE SHAVES WITH DEATH

 

A Straits Times report in 2001 said of Ms Lum: "She was willing to travel to - and brave uncertainties in - outlying places to explore and do business."

This was an understatement.

She recalled a trip in 1991 on an old plane to an Indonesian town so remote she could not recall its name.

There were 10 passengers and as the plane started, the noise from the engine was deafening.

As it taxied to take off, one of its propellers malfunctioned.

"The pilot was so calm, left his cockpit, opened a window and used a broom stick to force the propeller to turn! The plane was already speeding and I was so frightened, I thought this was my last day alive."

He managed to get back to the cockpit in time and the flight turned out all right.

Ms Lum's experiences with water were not just in the lab.

On another trip, this time to the Maldives, she found herself in the uncomfortable position of the lone passenger in a boat manned by two men.

Worse, a storm broke during the four-hour trip to an island. Sea water gushed through a crack that had opened up in the bottom of the boat.

"For hours, I had to help bail out the water. I thought I'd be very grateful to survive the trip."

 

6. GETTING HELP, GIVING BACK

 

In 1995, three chemistry professors saw the potential in Ms Lum's business and injected hundreds of thousands of dollars to help it expand into China.

Their investments were worth five times as much after five years.

Then NUS Professor Wong Ming Keong was her supervisor in her Honours year and again during her master's degree course.

He invested around $100,000.

The professor not only said yes but persuaded colleagues Gan Leong Ming and Koh Lip Lin to do so too.

Prof Gan, who was Ms Lum's co-supervisor, said: "We talked about it, and thought it was worth the risk."

Prof Wong was especially hopeful. Ms Lum had impressed him: "She was a quick thinker and efficient worker - and very independent too."

On her quitting her master's course, Prof Wong said: "I encouraged her to stop her course. I said: 'Once your business is successful you can hire professors and PhDs to work for you'."

And as it turned out, she did hire a PhD graduate, in 1999, to be Hyflux's research and development manager.

Edited by DACH
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BanCoe

BanCoe

Hypersonic

Heng ...... I kenna , bought in during IPO @$100 per share in April 2011 , was a darling stock back then ; lucky was allocated only 30 shares ($3,000)..... I think a lot of small investors kenna

 

Now need to borrow money now from @dach

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DACH

DACH

Supersonic

Heng ...... I kenna , bought in during IPO @$100 per share in April 2011 , was a darling stock back then ; lucky was allocated only 30 shares ($3,000)..... I think a lot of small investors kenna

 

Now need to borrow money now from @dach

 

I low SES.

No money one. 

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Voodooman

Voodooman

Supersonic

Heng ...... I kenna , bought in during IPO @$100 per share in April 2011 , was a darling stock back then ; lucky was allocated only 30 shares ($3,000)..... I think a lot of small investors kenna

 

Now need to borrow money now from @dach

You must be a compulsive accumulator. Lol... IPO in 2001 and even Olivia had cashed out around $100m (10% stake sold around 2005/6) and you are still holding the darling.
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BanCoe

BanCoe

Hypersonic

You must be a compulsive accumulator. Lol... IPO in 2001 and even Olivia had cashed out around $100m (10% stake sold around 2005/6) and you are still holding the darling.

Ya lor kenna means kenna..... I just admit it anyway my stake was only 30 lots ($3,000)

 

Ok lah downgrade to China car next time

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Wt_know

Wt_know

Supersonic
(edited)

wah ... lost 90% of investment in the darling local stock ...

i though this only will happen to PRC s-chip [sweatdrop]

 

SINGAPORE: For every S$1,000 invested, a holder of Hyflux’s perpetual securities and preference shares will recover S$106.54, or an implied return rate of 10.7 per cent, under the company’s newly announced restructuring proposal.

This includes a cash payout of S$30.15 and an implied equity return of S$76.39.

 

Edited by Wt_know
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Freeder

Freeder

Hypersonic
  • Author

Something is fishy in this debacle...

Ms. Lum need to cum cream on this although she wants to donate all her worthless share options ..

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