Private investor demands Kitchen Culture repay $1.5 million loan due to event of default
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Private investor Tan Gin Tat had lent $1.5 million in total to Kitchen Culture in 2022.
PHOTO: KITCHEN CULTURE
Paige Lim
SINGAPORE - Embattled kitchen solutions provider Kitchen Culture Holdings on Monday received a letter of demand from the lawyers of private investor Tan Gin Tat to repay a $1.5 million loan.
This is due to an event of default relating to a change in the composition of its board of directors, for which Mr Tan’s consent was not obtained.
In August 2022, Mr Tan – a personal contact of Kitchen Culture executive director Lim Wee Li – entered into a redeemable loan agreement with the company, where he granted it a loan in the principal amount of $1 million.
He then entered into a supplemental loan agreement with the company in December 2022, granting it a further principal amount of $500,000.
The group said the loans would be used to help meet its general working capital requirements.
In June 2023, Kitchen Culture announced that board members comprising Mr Steven Lau, Mr Lim Wee Li, Mr William Teo, Mr Ang Lian Kiat and Mr Peter Lim – with the exception of Madam Hao Dongting – would step down and be replaced by five new directors.
Mr James Rogers, Mr Yip Kean Mun, Mr Lam Kwong Fai, Mr Tan Meng Shern and Mr Raymond Cheung Wai Man took over their positions.
Madam Hao was later redesignated non-executive chairman of the board.
According to the letter of demand sent by Mr Tan Gin Tat’s lawyers on Monday, the change in composition of the existing board of directors as at Nov 1, 2022, without Mr Tan’s prior written consent amounted to an event of default.
This is in accordance with the redeemable loan agreement and supplemental loan agreement he had entered into with Kitchen Culture.
Upon the occurrence of the event of default, Mr Tan is demanding repayment of the loan lent and/or extended to the company amounting to $1.5 million in aggregate within 30 days from the date of the letter of demand.
If the loan is not repaid by this time, he will commence legal proceedings against the company.
Kitchen Culture said it will be seeking legal advice in relation to the letter of demand.
In March, it received a letter of demand from CDL Properties’ lawyer for allegedly owing $250,970 in rent for four months.
Trading in the shares of the Catalist-listed company has been suspended since July 2021.
