Allen & Gledhill

The Singaporean firm is acting for syndicated lenders in the controversial Hyflux restructuring

History of the practice

Established well over a century ago, Allen & Gledhill prides itself on being one of Singapore’s oldest firms. The 12-member insolvency division, integrated within the firm’s international arbitration and litigation practices, is a key player on the city-state’s restructuring scene, with decades of experience in cross-border cases spanning the Association of South East Asian Nations region.

The practice is currently headed by Chong Yee Leong, who alongside Andrew Yeo took over from Edwin Tong SC when he joined Singapore’s government as Senior Minister of State for Law in 2018. (Yeo is now co-head of the litigation and dispute resolution department). Other prominent partners include Andrew Chan and Edward Tiong, who is deputy head of the practice.

Allen & Gledhill partners are also longstanding and active members of various insolvency institutions, including the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore, the Law Society’s insolvency committee and the Turnaround Management Association of Singapore.

Network

The firm is based in Singapore. It also has an association with Malaysian firm Rahmat Lim & Partners, which launched in 2010 and whose litigation department tackles Malaysian restructuring matters.

Who uses it?

Allen & Gledhill’s books show a spread across several industries, with a fairly even split between creditor and debtor-side work. Clients in the energy sector include Singapore’s Berau Coal Energy and its subsidiary Berau Capital Resources, as well as offshore oil and gas company Ezra Holdings.

The firm has also risen to the challenge of managing pressures in the shipping industry, guiding the liquidators of Singaporean shipping companies Parakou and Glory Wealth, and the financiers of Indonesia’s Berlian Laju, through various stages of insolvency proceedings and several instances of knock-on litigation.

Historic track record

Alongside the significant Berau and Ezra restructurings, the firm acted on the cross-border collapse of Eastman Kodak Company and was counsel to the financial adviser of Singaporean asset manager TT International. In the aftermath of Barings Bank’s collapse in the 1990s, Chong acted for the judicial managers, inspectors and liquidators of Singaporean entity Barings Futures.

More recently, Allen & Gledhill secured a victory for the receivers and managers of petrochemical plant operator Jurong Aromatics in the restructuring of US$2.5 billion worth of debt. In 2017, the Singapore High Court ruled that creditors Glencore and BP could not withhold US$56 million in payments as an insolvency set-off for debts that the company had incurred pre-receivership. The court also made clear that the appointment of receivers did not constitute a ceding of control by senior lenders.

The firm won a ruling that cheered third-party funders in Singapore on behalf of bankrupt businessman Fan Kow Hin’s estate, which sought sanction of a litigation funding arrangement. The court allowed the arrangement, rejecting arguments that Singapore’s recent legalisation of the practice for international arbitration had impliedly barred it for other areas.

It also acted for Noble Group, a Bermuda-incorporated commodities trader formerly listed in Singapore, on a US$3.5 billion restructuring in 2018. It defended the company against shareholder actions and claims relating to forum mandatory laws, which threatened to derail the restructuring. The company carried out parallel schemes in England and Bermuda, alongside a Chapter 15 filing, before completing its restructuring through a Bermudian provisional liquidation.

Recent events

During the research period, the firm has continued to act for noteholders objecting to a proposed scheme of arrangement in the US$950 million Berau Group restructuring.

It is also providing ongoing representation to the syndicated bank lenders on the controversial restructuring of water treatment company Hyflux. The long-running US$2 billion restructuring has proved difficult to complete, due to the collapse of an initial deal with Indonesian white knight investor SM Investments and uncertainty as to whether it has the support of enough creditors.

Chan acted on the first known sukuk default in Singapore during the judicial management of offshore oil and gas services group Swiber Holdings. Creditors approved a scheme of arrangement for the company in May 2019. 

The firm is also advising the Chapter 11 trustee for CFG Peru, a Singaporean subsidiary of Peruvian fishing business China Fishery Group.

It is representing creditors of Singaporean oil company Coastal Oil, including banks DBS and HBSC. The company is in liquidation in Singapore and legal action is underway in Hong Kong in order to investigate its financial affairs.

The firm is acting for Singaporean marine services company PACC Offshore Services Holdings in the liquidation of its joint venture POSH Terasea. In addition to the Singapore proceedings, the case includes debt recovery proceedings in the Netherlands.

Elsewhere, it is representing Singapore bank DBS in its attempts to enforce a security against Vietnam-based assets of Triyards Group, part of the Ezra Group that is subject to Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States.

The firm is also advising several statutory boards and an Indonesian creditor on the liquidations of SEC and PLPL, two subsidiaries of Indian construction company Punj Lloyd.