UAE firm Utico is ‘willing to walk away' from deal with Hyflux: report

The deal is said to have left about 34,000 retail investors in the lurch.

Hyflux’s white knight investor Utico said it is willing to walk away from a deal with the embattled water treatment company, after a little-known firm made an offer for the utility’s debt.

The development is said to have been added complication in Singapore’s highest-profile restructuring case, which has left some 34,000 retail investors in the lurch, with few signs of a resolution emerging after more than 18 months. Hyflux is separately asking for a three-month extension of its debt moratorium.

“We are willing to walk away” if note holders “don’t want us,” Richard Menezes, chief executive officer of Utico, said in a press release. “However, I believe that taking part in the town hall will present the correct forum to know facts and take a decision.”

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