Date: February 21, 2020
SIAS refers to the letter from Utico FZC’s (“Utico”) dated 28 January 2020 which was enclosed in an announcement made by Hyflux Ltd on the same day (the “Letter”). In the Letter, Utico refers to the monies it will contribute in relation to the fees of the various advisors involved in the Hyflux restructuring exercise. It takes the position that:
- Utico will reduce the pot of money it will make available to the said advisors from S$40m to S$30m if they did not support the scheme to be proposed in the court hearing on 29th January 2020 (the “Hearing”).
- If all the said advisors support the scheme and the restructuring agreement between Utico and Hyflux (the “Utico RA”) at the Hearing, Utico would increase the pot to S$50m for all advisors.
The letter went on to state that “SIAS advisors will be treated in a special manner if their work and efforts results in P&P votes as and when necessary, considering they are a Junior Group and has Utico’s special separate efforts.”
SIAS would like to make clear that the SIAS Advisors, namely Drew & Napier LLC and PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Pte. Ltd, have always unequivocally stated to SIAS that regardless of whether they are current on their fees and whether they are assured of their fees, they will not accept higher fees in exchange for encouraging the P&P holders to accept the Utico deal. There is therefore no issue of any assurance of their fees being paid. The SIAS Advisors will act entirely independently in assisting SIAS to engage with the P&P holders who will decide for themselves whether or not to accept the Utico deal.
David Gerald
Founder, President & CEO
Securities Investors Association (Singapore)
