SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Hyflux on Thursday (Aug 13) announced that the unsecured working group (UWG) of bank lenders has filed its application for a judicial management order.

The Singapore High Court had extended the deadline to Aug 12 for the UWG to file the application, from Aug 7.

Justice Aedit Abdullah last month gave the go-ahead for the group - made up of Mizuho, Bangkok Bank, BNP Paribas, CTBC Bank, KfW, Korea Development Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank - to carve their respective shares of debt out of Hyflux's debt moratorium. This came after the UWG argued that it could no longer trust Hyflux's management to lead any restructuring effort.

Meanwhile, the ailing water treatment firm has until 5pm on Aug 30 to accept Utico's proposed rescue package.

The Emirati utility firm's offer will be open for acceptance, whether or not Hyflux is placed under judicial management. Utico had asserted that its offer could "save" the Singapore firm from judicial management and guarantee the highest possible recovery for the holders of Hyflux's perpetual securities and preference shares.