KUALA LUMPUR (March 12): Financially troubled Sapura Energy Bhd has been granted a three-month extension by the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) to push the deadline of its standstill period, which shields it from actions from its multi-currency financing (MCF) creditors, to June 10.
This marks the second extension it has obtained from the CDRC following a six-month extension it obtained earlier, which ended on March 10, 2024.
“In line with Bank Negara Malaysia’s CDRC Participant’s Code of Conduct, the MCF financiers are to continue to observe the informal standstill and withhold all legal proceedings, and/or any other recovery action initiated or intended against Sapura Energy and/or the admitted group of companies,” the oil and gas services provider said in a bourse filing on Tuesday.
Sapura Energy said the CDRC’s decision had considered the current state of progress of the group’s proposed restructuring scheme, and the three-month extension starting March 11 that the group obtained from the court to convene meetings with its creditors for its debt restructuring and to restrain them from taking legal actions against it, following the expiry of the nine-month extension given previously that ended on March 10.
The court orders, sanctioned under the Companies Act 2016, allowed it to take critical steps in its debt restructuring plan through MCF of approximately RM10.8 billion and outstanding payments to trade creditors amounting to about RM1.5 billion.
The Practice Note 17 (PN17)-classified group was thrown a lifeline last December when at least 75% of the financiers of its approximately RM10.3 billion MCF facilities provided it requisite approval-in-principle for its proposed debt restructuring scheme.
In the same month, Sapura Energy was granted a second extension of up to May 31, 2024 to submit its PN17 regularisation plan, which was supposed to be due on Nov 30, 2023.
It fell into PN17 status in end-May 2022, when its shareholders’ equity of RM85 million fell below 50% of its share capital of RM10.9 billion.
Earnings-wise, Sapura Energy posted a net profit of RM30.89 million for its third quarter ended Oct 31, 2023 (3QFY2024) — more than double the RM10.18 million it recorded a year earlier — boosted by higher share of profits from associates and joint ventures, and an increase in foreign exchange gain.
It was the group's third consecutive quarter in the black, as it had posted a net loss of RM3.3 billion in 4QFY2023 after recording massive impairment provisions.
Sapura Energy’s share price closed unchanged at 4.5 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM827 million.
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