China’s Sino-Ocean gets liquidation reprieve in Hong Kong amid ‘some progress’
Hong Kong court adjourns hearing until December 23 as developer plans parallel restructuring efforts in the city and the UK
Chinese developer Sino-Ocean Group received an additional reprieve of three months on its liquidation hearing on Monday after it outlined a plan for parallel restructuring efforts in Hong Kong and the UK.
Hong Kong Justice Linda Chan adjourned the hearing until December 23, saying that the developer had “made some progress” on its restructuring.
Lawyers representing Sino-Ocean sought a reprieve until the end of December, arguing that the restructuring is ongoing and that the company expects to seek approval from a UK court and a Hong Kong court next month to restructure US$5.6 billion in debt.
More than 75 per cent of loan creditors have approved the restructuring proposal that the developer presented in July, which meets a requirement to file a request for restructuring with a UK court under Part 26A of the Companies Act of 2006, one of the company’s lawyers said.
“We know we don’t have [enough support from] groups B, C and D, but we don’t care,” the lawyer representing Sino-Ocean said during the court hearing. Under Part 26A, a company can request approval for its restructuring from a UK court as long as it receives consent from at least 75 per cent of one class of creditors, not all classes of creditors.
