Saved by the bell?: How Singapore's new insolvency laws could extend lifelines for distressed companies

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BRUNCH: Saved by the bell? How Singapore's new insolvency laws could extend lifelines for distressed companies

"With third party funding explicitly allowed, we could see more cases of JMs or liquidators being appointed after a company collapses and actions pursued against directors," he continues.

Corporate defaults and insolvencies are ratcheting up amid a ruthless Covid-19 outbreak that has hurt companies across countless sectors, from travel and leisure, retail, tourism to food & beverage and oil and gas. "Whether by design or coincidence, the IRDA coming into operation during this period would be beneficial for ailing business or impecunious individuals, who can now rely on the full measure of Singapore's reformed laws," saysWithers KhattarWong's partner Justin Yip.

"The current situation may lead to a wave of insolvency cases that can overwhelm any judicial system. The amendments provided more options and protection for distressed debtors with viable businesses, thus avoiding immediate liquidation and unnecessary value destruction, while it also has safeguards for lenders against"opportunistic" use of the new rules by debtors, says SMU's Associate Professor Stephen Bull.

Ernst & Young's Asean restructuring leader Angela Ee deems the super-priority rescue financing clause"especially helpful" for vulnerable companies hit by financial woes as it gives them a shot to snag new fundings, a"critical lifeline for survival". Another ground-shifting amendment in 2017 allowed a foreign firm, for the first time, to be placed under JM in Singapore.

 

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New lifelines for distressed companiesCORPORATE defaults and insolvencies are ratcheting up as the Covid-19 crisis continues to hurt companies across the business spectrum. Singapore's new insolvency laws, amalgamated in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act (IRDA) that came into force just a fortnight ago, could not have come at a better time. Read more at The Business Times.
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