KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): Practice Note 17 (PN17) outfit KNM Group Bhd is to hold a court-convened creditors meeting in relation to its proposed scheme of arrangement (SOA) on Oct 12, days prior to an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to decide on the fate of its board.
“The board of directors of the company wishes to announce that the applicants will convene court-convened meetings on Oct 12, 2023, pursuant to the ad interim [restraining] order (RO) and Section 366 of the Companies Act 2016 for the purpose of discussing and voting on the proposed SOA,” the financially-troubled oil and gas process equipment maker said in a filing on Monday.
“Further development in relation to the RO and SOA will be announced in due course,” it added.
Last week, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted KNM an extension on its temporary RO pending the conclusion of its bid for an extension on its initial RO ― which it filed back in August.
The group was first granted a three-month RO back in December last year in conjunction with leave (permission) to call a court-convened meeting with creditors for its proposed scheme of arrangement.
It was able to extend the RO by a further five months to August, when it then in the same month filed the current application for another extension.
Since then, a group of shareholders led by German businessman Andreas Heeschen filed a notice to remove all existing KNM directors, including its chairman Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra, who holds an indirect 9.44% stake in the group.
According to the notice filed in early September, the Heeschen-fronted group intends to replace the incumbent board with its own nominees, which include Tunku Kamariah Aminah Maimunah lskandariah Sultan Iskandar, the eldest sister of the Sultan of Johor, as well as former KNM executive director Flavio Porro.
It was previously reported that KNM CEO and managing director Ravindrasingham Balasingham said that the group of shareholders’ move to replace the group’s board will thwart the progress achieved thus far by the incumbent board of directors, which took over last November, in resolving KNM’s debt issues.
As of end-June this year, KNM’s borrowings stood at RM1.18 billion, down from RM1.26 billion a year earlier.
The group had been lossmaking for eight consecutive quarters. Negative reserves stood at RM1.21 billion, up from RM1.16 billion the year before.
Shares in KNM ended half a sen or 4% lower at 12 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM466.84 million.