KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): The application by Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and its three subsidiaries for a permanent stay of the winding-up order against them was strongly objected to by their creditors at a hearing on Monday (March 6).
The four companies are seeking the permanent stay pending the hearing of their appeal at the Court of Appeal against the High Court's decision in January to grant the winding-up order.
The creditors — made up of syndicated lenders and bilateral lenders, comprising six financial institutions and other banks — are opposing the permanent stay.
At the hearing, lawyer Benjamin Dawson, representing bilateral lenders HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd and HSBC Bank Bhd, argued that a stay order would be “tragedical” for all parties involved, including Serba Dinamik itself.
“The company is financially opaque, they have also ignored many court orders for costs to be paid. Many still don’t know about their finances
“No company or credible businessman would deal with this company,” Dawson told High Court judge Ahmad Murad Abdul Aziz in the online hearing.
Dawson also argued that the stay would be prejudicial to the creditors who have been waiting, and cited the alleged loss of creditworthiness, goodwill and standing of the companies owing to their acts and omission.
These include the companies' inability to pay what they described as a colossal debt to their creditors and come up with a viable scheme of arrangement, and defaulting in the scheme of arrangement to pay 15% of the debt to local creditors.
Besides Serba Dinamik, the three other companies the High Court ordered to be wound up are Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd, Serba Dinamik International Ltd and Serba Dinamik Group Bhd.
Datin Jeyanthini Kannaperan, the lawyer representing the syndicated lenders, said that there was no statement of affairs from the directors of Serba Dinamik and there is “abject non-compliance” which continues.
Lawyers Claudia Cheah and Karen Tan appeared for Hong Leong Islamic Bank, while Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar represented Serba Dinamik.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, represented by Lee Shih and Pang Huey Lin, is the liquidator in the Serba Dinamik matter.
Ahmad Murad fixed March 16 for decision.
The applications by Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd, HSBC Amanah, AmBank Islamic Bhd, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd are over the non-payment of loans amounting to RM1.7 billion out of a total sum of some RM5 billion owed.
The RM5 billion sum included the US$500 million (RM2.13 billion) sukuk on which Serba Dinamik had defaulted.