Skip Navigation Links
06 Mar 2019  (961 Views) 
[x]
Hyflux


Slow response from PUB about Tuaspring
A retail investor in Hyflux told me that the Public Utilities Board had been very slow in responding to the problem faced by Hyflux over Tuaspring. The delay caused Hyflux to suffer a large loss and destroy the value of the company.

I do not know if his remarks are fair. He must have been very disappointed to see his investment in Hyflux lose 90% of its value.

I tend to sympathize with his view. It was quite clear that the power generation in Hyflux was losing a lot of money.

Hyflux wanted to find an investor since early 2017 but they needed PUB to give approval for confidential information to be provided to the potential bidders.

It seemed that the approval was slow in coming.

I can understand the problem faced by PUB in dealing with this situation. Tuaspring is a strategic asset and the PUB had to be careful in dealing with this change of ownership.

But there was no excuse for the delay. If the PUB had to deal with the difficult problem, they should have referred the matter to the government much earlier. 

I believe that the blame should go up to the government leaders. They should have stepped in earlier to give direction on this matter. They should have asked PUB to take over Tuaspring early at a price to be decided by an independent valuer. 

I am not asking the government to bail out Tuaspring. But PUB does have a duty to respond earlier to avoid the massive bleeding that Tuaspring had suffered due to the delay and uncertainty.

If a decision was taken earlier, Hyflux would not have suffered a massive loss. The latest report showed a depreciation of over $900 million in asset value. This was much higher than the actual loss that could be expectedx from power generation over the next few years.

I hope that the Ministry of Trade & Industry will address this issue about the delay in PUB in helping Hyflux to solve this issue.

Tan Kin Lian

 


Add Comment


Add a comment

Email
Comment


QR Code