Titan fights liquidation as it seeks return to market
Oil and logistics operator looks to raise fresh capital despite court action by major investor
Titan Petrochemicals says it hopes to have creditors' demands for its liquidation set aside and its shares trading again by the end of the year after it releases its financial results for last year.
Trading in Titan shares has been suspended since June last year, pending a court decision on demands for its liquidation by creditors and until the publication of its interim and final results for the year.
The debt-ridden oil trading and logistics firm will also consider adding more strategic investors, now that it has secured HK$130 million of new investment from Singapore-listed offshore oilfield services provider Falcon Energy Group, said its executive director, Patrick Wong Siu-hung.
"We do not rule out any possibility," Wong said, when asked if Titan would consider international private equity firms of similar stature to United States-based Warburg Pincus, which became a substantial shareholder in Titan in 2007.
Titan's board also plans to propose raising up to HK$396 million by issuing a five-year, zero-coupon, unlisted bond that will be convertible to shares. The bonds will be offered to all existing shareholders.
A previous agreement to sell preference shares to Titan's largest stakeholder, Guangdong Zhenrong Energy, so that it will own 75 per cent of Titan, was rejected by independent Titan shareholders.