Singapore’s Hyflux in talks with Utico to secure $294mn funds

Bloomberg

Singapore’s Hyflux Ltd, the water and power company battling for survival, said it is in talks with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC about securing S$400 million ($294 million) of funds, disclosing the identity of the potential investor after receiving a non-binding letter of intent.
Hyflux’s legal and financial advisers are in discussions with Utico on the details of the investment, with a view to set them out in a binding term sheet, it said in a filing to the Singapore exchange. Utico informed Hyflux it plans to keep the company’s main businesses so they remain operational, and to retain current management, according to the statement.
Utico, based in the United Arab Emirates, is the largest private full-service utility and developer in the Middle East, according to Hyflux.
Its shareholders and inves-tors include the governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Brunei.
Hyflux said it had received a non-binding letter of intent from an undisclosed Middle East developer. The possible injection of S$400 million will be used for equity and working capital purposes and “possible urgent interim funding,” it said.