Hyflux's retail investors are making their unhappiness heard.

On March 30, a planned protest against Hyflux's restructuring plans took place at Hong Lim Park from 3pm to 4pm, consisting of the embattled firm's retail investors, Channel NewsAsia reports.

Reports of the number of protestors who turned up have varied, ranging from over 100 to 500.

The Straits Times (ST) reported that over 100 retail investors turned up for the protest, while CNA reported the number of protestors as around 300. Nikkei Asian Review noted that the rally drew over 200 people, while Bloomberg places the number between 400 to 500.

What were they protesting about?

The protest namely had two objectives:

1. In protest of PUB's intention to take over Hyflux's Tuaspring plant for no money

On March 21, PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, announced that it intended to take control of the water desalination plant at Hyflux’s Tuaspring plant if it fails to cure the defaults by the end of the notice period -- a deadline that has since been extended from April 5 to April 30, according to ST.

This came after Hyflux did not fulfil its obligations to supply a certain amount of treated water to PUB under their Water Purchase Agreement (WPA).

Under the WPA, PUB can exercise its right to terminate the agreement, with Hyflux having to pay PUB a compensation sum.

The organiser of the protest, known as Alex Leong according to ST, has called the announcement by PUB a “ruthless” one that was “hard to swallow.”

He added that many shareholders are hoping that PUB can compensate them out of “moral obligation” or “goodwill”, as he believes that Tuaspring is still in operation and holds value.

However, Tuaspring's purchase price was determined by an independent valuer in accordance with the WPA and its current valuation is negative.

In response to Mothership.sg queries, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) has since said that there is no basis for compensation:

“All investments carry risks. Businesses can come under financial stress and are not immune to defaults. There is no basis for PUB to utilise taxpayer dollars to offset investor losses.”

2. To gather support for a shareholder "no" vote on April 5

On this issue, the crux of the vote revolved around how the 34,000 Hyflux retail investors are owed a total of $900 million, but stood to get a recovery rate of 10.7 per cent -- around 3 per cent in cash and 7 per cent in equity -- from the proposed restructuring plan.

Additionally, this plan is based on a deal made by Indonesian consortium SM Investments to buy out Hyflux, in which 60 per cent of the company is purchased for S$400 million, along with a shareholder loan of S$130 million. 

As such, the protest hopes to drum up enough support for a shareholder “no” vote against this plan on April 5.

Even so, there is a chance that this deal might also not pull through.

On March 28, SM Investments raised concerns over how S$271 million of its S$530 million investment would be allocated to pay Hyflux's debtors, according to ST.

Who turned up at the protest?

Apart from Hyflux's retail investors, other figures who turned up for the protest included former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian and the founder of new opposition party People’s Voice Lim Tean, both CNA and ST reported.

Several videos of Tan giving a speech to the protestors have since been uploaded to YouTube.

As for Lim, he was further reported by ST to have offered his legal services to the protest's organiser, who replied that it was still too early to determine the impact of the protest.

Top image screenshot from Singaproean Voices YouTube