The hunt for lost billions: Failed Hin Leong's owners face asset claims
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[April 02, 2021] By
Jessica Jaganathan and Anshuman Daga
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Stung by the collapse
of Asia's top independent oil trading firm, some global banks have
teamed up to seek the personal assets of the family behind Hin Leong
Trading, which has left creditors on the hook for billions of dollars.
As part of what sources say is the biggest legal case in living memory
in Singapore, liquidators and creditors are hunting for assets from the
city-state to China to Australia belonging to the Lim family, after the
Singapore-based company was wound up in March.
At a hearing on Monday, court-appointed liquidators will ask the
Singapore High Court to freeze the family's assets worldwide, from
multimillion-dollar homes to country club memberships, shares and funds,
three sources with knowledge of the case told Reuters.
Hin Leong failed in a year-long effort to restructure about $3.5 billion
in debts after the COVID-19-led oil crash laid bare huge losses. Founder
Lim Oon Kuin admitted in a court document last year to directing the
firm not to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over
several years.
At least a dozen creditors, able to recoup just $270 million from the
collapsed company, are going after the assets of the tycoon, known as
O.K. Lim, his son Evan Lim and daughter Lim Huey Ching.
"There isn't much money left in the company, but the family has many
assets, so the creditors are now trying to go after those," said one of
the sources who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to
speak to media.
The elder Lim, 78, who started his sprawling empire by delivering diesel
in a truck in 1963, was once ranked among Singapore's 18 richest people
by Forbes. The magazine said last year he was worth $1.3 billion, while
the sources estimate the family's wealth at up to $2 billion in
Singapore alone.
Banks, which began to pull credit lines from Hin Leong last year, have
been unable to recover any meaningful funds from Hin Leong so far.
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O.K. Lim, founder of oil trading group Hin Leong, speaks during an
interview with Reuters in Singapore June 5, 2013. REUTERS/Edgar Su/
Of the nearly two dozen banks involved with Hin Leong, at least four have sued
the family, court records show: France's Natixis SA, Bank of China, Hongkong and
Shanghai Banking Corp and the Dutch-based lender Rabobank.
The Lim family, their legal representative, the liquidators and their law firm
did not immediately reply to Reuters emailed queries on the matter. Rabobank,
Natixis and HSBC declined comment, while there was no response from Bank of
China.
PRIVATE EYES, BRAINSTORMING
In addition to hiring private investigators to unearth the family's assets, some
of the creditors are taking the unusual step of meeting informally to share
information on their search, the sources said.
While directors are typically not personally liable for the debts of their
Singapore-registered companies, they can be if fraud is involved, lawyers say.
O.K. Lim has been charged by Singapore prosecutors with two counts of abetting
forgery over his directions that the firm hide losses. The prosecutors said this
week they expect to charge him on Thursday with 23 more counts of
forgery-related offences.
One-third of the roughly 150 ships owned by the family's Xihe Group have been
sold for at least $420 million, according to VesselsValue, which tracks ship
sales.
The Lims have also raised some $300 million to $370 million from selling their
stake in Singapore's prized Universal Terminal oil storage facility, two sources
said.
With O.K. Lim said to be in poor health and the family represented by a top
Singapore litigator, who has previously represented the city-state's prime
minister, creditors expect the Hin Leong legal saga to drag on.
($1 = 1.3437 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan, Anshuman Daga, Florence Tan and Roslan
Khasawneh; Additional reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by William Mallard)
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