The interim judicial managers of Hin Leong Trading, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), along with legal firms Rajah & Tann, and Drew & Napier could potentially rack up a total of SGD 17.3 million in fees in the course of restructuring the financially troubled company, reports The Business Times.
According to court documents presented by PwC, its advisory fees alone would be upwards of SGD 10 million, with Rajah & Tann earning about SGD 3.8 million and Drew & Napier charging SGD 3.1 million.
This is an estimate provided by the firms for the course of the judicial management period.
PwC attributes the costs to the complexity in the nature of the HLT case which includes allegations of fraud, misconduct and a myriad of other legal claims.
In the court document, Goh Thien Phong, an executive at PwC noted the costs may increase should the case be discovered to be more convoluted to what is currently perceived.
As of June 2020, HLT reportedly had a cash balance of USD 38 million set against its crushing debt of USD 3.5 billion.
The judicial managers are looking to recover USD 3.5 billion (SGD 4.75 billion) on top of another USD 90 million in dividends which the trio had allegedly paid themselves despite the company being insolvent.
Related: O.K. Lim and two children sued for USD 3.5billion; receiver appointed for 3 Xihe ships
Related: Argus Media: Trafigura, Gunvor take over Hin Leong fuel oil storage
Related: Managers of Ocean Tankers looking to recover USD 19 million from Lim family
Related: Argus Media: Singapore’s Hin Leong founder charged with forgery
Related: Xihe Holdings placed under IJM as OCBC reverses decision for ‘consensual restructuring’
Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 24 September, 2020
