Date Published: 29 October 2020
Main Contacts: Lisa Theng, Ken Chia, Bill Jamieson, Subramanian Pillai, Kenn Lim and Sharleen Eio.
CNPLaw LLP is advising Pison Investments Pte. Ltd. (“Pison”) on its invitation to senior unsecured creditors of the Hyflux group to offer their debt to Pison in a reverse Dutch auction. CNP is also advising Pison on its engagement with the advisers to the holders of Medium Term Notes and the representatives of holders of Perpetual Capital Securities and Preference Shares issued by Hyflux Ltd. The CNP team is led by Managing Partner Lisa Theng and other partners involved are Bill Jamieson, Ken Chia and Kenn Lim. The firm’s dispute resolution partner Subramaniam Pillai is representing Pison in relation to various applications filed with the High Court of the Republic of Singapore by Hyflux Ltd and certain of its subsidiaries and a group of the Company’s creditors in relation to the insolvency and restructuring of Hyflux Ltd and its subsidiaries.
Every business involves an amalgam of various stakeholders, such as investors, shareholders and directors. Ideally, each of these stakeholders should have a common vision of what is best for the company. However, this is rarely the case when individual interests are factored into the equation.
Stakeholder conflicts (regarding issues such as breaches of fiduciary duties, derivative actions, shareholder oppression, management deadlocks, management compensation, dividend payments and buy-outs) can be a thorny issue and can leave a company crippled if not addressed promptly.
Given the diversity of interests at play, we appreciate that a multi-faceted approach is usually the most cost-efficient method of resolving stakeholder conflicts. Therefore, we provide clients with ready access to an integrated team of lawyers (combining the experience of our corporate, dispute resolution and employment law practices where applicable) who will effectively engage the relevant stakeholders in discussions on how best to resolve their differences amicably.
More often than not, clients are able to avoid costly protracted court proceedings and resolve stakeholder conflicts with discretion and expediency.
Companies periodically assess and deliberate ways to improve their financial results, and one way of achieving this may be through a successful corporate restructuring exercise, undertaken pursuant to the applicable laws.
A corporate restructuring exercise may involve the acquisition, disposal, consolidation or amalgamation of assets or shares. Other reasons that may compel a company to restructure may be to prepare the company for a sale, merger or management buyout. In almost all cases, legal and financial reasons will dictate the approach and outcome.
By leveraging on our corporate and insolvency law practices within the firm, we aim to help clients achieve their restructuring objectives by offering strategic advance planning, assessing the possible business outcomes and legal restrictions, and managing the interests of the stakeholders involved, namely the shareholders, creditors, customers, and employees.
Our dispute resolution lawyers have worked on matters of various sizes and across industries. Our vast experience enabled us to provide strategic advice on all aspects of insolvency. We have also worked under third party funding arrangements where applicable.
The lawyers from the Banking & Finance Practice Group (BFPG) have always taken pride in providing a comprehensive range of banking and finance services to our clients, including domestic and foreign international banks, other financial institutions as well as non-bank lenders and borrowers, and foreign legal firms acting for parties outside Singapore.
Our banking & finance practice covers the whole spectrum of domestic and international banking & financing work, including restructurings, financings and financial institutions advisory work. We can draw upon a broad base of partners, senior, mid-level and junior associates, all with strong and varied banking & finance product line and country experience.
Our reach is further widened and enhanced by our ability to draw upon the resources of our network of correspondent firms in the region and globally.