Isn’t that old man a flight risk ? Why isn’t he arrested ? Still seeking signature on that arrest warrant ?
Temasek has their hands full to bail out SIA and related mess.
Temasek has their hands full to bail out SIA and related mess.
-
IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Serious Sinkies Balls Shrinked - DBS UOB OCBC Sexposed by Hin Leong
- Thread starter Pinkieslut
- Start date
PROPERTY PERSONALISED
NEWS
Caveat of $27 mil lodged for Hin Leong boss' Second Avenue bungalow
By Cecilia Chow | April 23, 2020
A Good Class Bungalow (GCB) sitting on a 19,989 sq ft, freehold site on Second Avenue, just off Bukit Timah Road, changed hands for $27 million ($1,351 psf), according to a caveat lodged with URA Realis on April 14 and downloaded on April 22. A title search shows that the property is held by Lim Oon Kuin (more commonly known as “OK Lim”) – the founder of Singapore’s biggest, privately held oil trader, Hin Leong Trading – and his wife, Tan Sook Eng.
The Good Class Bungalow at Second Avenue belonging to OK Lim and his wife had a caveat lodged for $27 million (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Source: URA Realis, downloaded on April 23, 2020
According to property agents who specialise in the GCB market, the $27 million or $1,351 psf reflected in the caveat was “a fair price”. After all, the last transaction at Second Avenue was for the GCB next door: sitting on a 20,000 sq ft, freehold site, the property fetched $27.5 million ($1,375 psf) in August 2018.
With Lim’s oil empire now submerged in debt, the sale is not surprising. Understandably, there is interest over what other assets Lim owns.
RELATED NEWS
Real estate specialists reflect on the industry amid Covid-19 circuit-breaker measuresWhat it takes to own a bungalowHomely charm, quiet surroundings and plenty of space in a Sunset Way bungalow
The GCB at Second Avenue isn’t the only one that Lim owns. One street away is a GCB located on a corner plot at Third Avenue. The property sits on a smaller freehold site of 14,575 sq ft and is jointly owned by Lim and his son Chee Meng, according to a property title search.
The GCB at Third Avenue which Lim purchased 25 years ago for $8.95 million ($614 psf). The property is owned jointly with his son, Chee Meng (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Lim had purchased the GCB at Third Avenue for $8.95 million ($614 psf), based on a caveat lodged in April 1995. Prices have almost doubled over the span of the last 25 years. Just across the road, a GCB sitting on a 16,276 sq ft, freehold site changed hands for $18.8 million ($1,155 psf), according to a caveat lodged in May 2019. The GCB at Third Avenue is believed to be Lim’s current residence.
Another GCB at Queen Astrid Park, purchased for $46 million ($1,548 psf) in 2017, is held solely by Tan Sook Eng, Lim’s wife.
At Tanglin Hill, Lim also owns a GCB at Tanglin Villas jointly with daughter Huey Ching, who is also a director of Hin Leong Trading. The freehold property was purchased in November 1999, but no caveat was lodged then.
The latest transaction at Tanglin Hill was for a GCB built in the 1980s, which sits on a land area of 16,448 sq ft. It was sold for $31.5 million ($1,915 psf) last October.
It will be interesting to see what Lim will divest next to stave off creditors.
MORE FROM EDGEPROP
NEWS
Singapore’s private home prices drop 1.2% q-o-q
NEWS
Caveat of $27 mil lodged for Hin Leong boss' Second Avenue bungalow
NEWS
Global sentiments for real estate appear less pessimistic: Savills
NEWS
Prime rents in Orchard Road fall 1.4% in 1Q2020
Back to Top
Copyright © EdgeProp 2017
Hin Leong Bust Latest to Mar Singapore’s Oil Trading Haven
April 27, 2020, 5:00 PM EDT
Updated on April 28, 2020, 2:55 AM EDT
Fabled trading house said it hid $800 million in losses
Noble Group, Agritrade and Hontop also had recent collapses
Singapore has long touted itself as the ideal home for a commodity trading house, with low taxes, light regulation and a view of one of the world’s busiest shipping channels.
That hard-earned reputation is now taking a hit after a spate of financial scandals and failures, culminating in the dramatic demise of Hin Leong Trading Pte, the fabled marine fuel trader that has confessed to hiding about $800 million in losses and selling off oil inventories that were backstopping loans.
Just weeks before Hin Leong’s failure, Agritrade International Pte, whose businesses span palm oil and coal mining, collapsed amid allegations of fraud. Hontop Energy Pte, an oil trader linked to a Chinese refiner, entered receivership around the same time, blaming cratering demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And it’s been just a couple of years since Noble Group Ltd., a Singapore-listed firm that was once Asia’s largest commodities house, spiraled into a court-appointed restructuring after allegations of overly aggressive accounting practices.
“The collapse of commodities traders like Noble, Hin Leong and Agritrade hurts our reputation,” said Mak Yuen Teen, an accounting professor who specializes in corporate governance at the National University of Singapore. “Our rules, monitoring and enforcement for companies are weak – and we are now paying a heavy price.”
For observers such as Mak, it raises questions over the strength of Singapore’s regulatory and legal oversight of trading houses, which need vast amounts of bank financing to buy, blend, store and transport raw materials. For others, the problems are inherent in the necessarily secretive and risky modus operandi of the traders themselves, who cultivate every edge to succeed on often razor thin margins, and it just so happens that Singapore is home to a lot of them.
Either way, when a trading house goes down, it creates collateral damage across the system.
Financial Scandals
Financial scandals are nothing new to Singapore, dating back to the original rogue trader, Nick Leeson, whose unauthorized bets on Japanese stock futures resulted in the bankruptcy of Barings Bank in 1995. There have been a string of commodity scandals since, from China Aviation Oil losing $550 million in 2004 to a Mitsubishi Corp. trader losing $314 million last year.
Who When What
Hin Leong 2020 Hid $800 million in oil trading losses
Agritrade 2020 Forged bills of lading hiding potential losses on $600 million of liabilities
Hontop Energy 2020 Trading arm of Chinese refiner went into receivership
Petro-Diamond 2019 ‘Rogue trader’ lost $314 million on oil trades
Noble Group 2015 Allegations of improper accounting foreshadowed firm’s demise
Olam 2012 Muddy Waters accused it of Enron-like accounting problems
Mitsui 2006 $81 million in bad naphtha trades led to closing of Singapore office
China Aviation Oil 2004 $550 million loss in oil derivatives
The country’s Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said in a Bloomberg TV interview last week that he doesn’t think Hin Leong’s collapse would affect the wider market, and that he doesn’t think the case has dented the country’s reputation at this point.
The government takes a firm stance against unlicensed and illegal trading activity, with penalties including fines and imprisonment, said a spokesperson for Enterprise Singapore, the agency that promotes international trade. Otherwise the country remains an attractive location for trading houses, and has a clear and tested set of insolvency laws that allows for the orderly winding down of companies to ensure there’s no systemic contagion, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Traders in Singapore of everything from zinc to oil said their bankers were pulling back from short-term financing. Lenders are asking for more collateral, financing costs have jumped, and in some cases the banks simply won’t issue letters of credit to some smaller companies. That’s echoed by the lenders themselves, who have said they’re reducing their exposure to commodities by cutting short-term loans to some clients and only lending to the biggest traders.
Low Taxes
Singapore courts trading firms around the world to rent office space and hire well-educated locals. The government offers traders corporate tax rates of just 5%, even better than the 13% rates offered to the trading houses that populate the cantons of Switzerland.
It means that between 60% and 80% of the world’s top oil, metals and agricultural companies are operating in the city state, according to Enterprise Singapore’s website.
“You see Singapore showing up in the commodity problems because they have gone out and provided aggressive financial incentives for people to locate these commodity trading businesses in Singapore,” said Michael Dee, a former senior managing director at Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. “So you have a higher propensity for those businesses to be in Singapore.”
Dee was a high profile critic of both Noble Group and agricultural trader Olam International Ltd., which survived a short-selling attack by Muddy Waters LLC after being rescued by Dee’s former firm.
And Singapore certainly has its defenders. The city-state’s regulations are no more lax than any other major financial hub, according to Jean-Francois Lambert, an industry consultant and former trade finance banker with HSBC Holdings Plc. The fundamental issue is that physical and financial commodity trading is difficult to understand and monitor from outside the company, he said.
Singapore has to walk a fine line between being agile and resourceful in attracting new traders, while not tolerating bad behavior, said John Driscoll, a veteran oil trader and analyst who now lectures on the topic at Singapore Management University.
“They’re supportive, but at the same time it’s not the Wild West,” he said.
Police Investigations
Regulators in the city state have drawn criticism for being slow to react to problems. Noble had been under fire from an ex-employee and short-sellers such as Muddy Waters for three years when authorities opened an investigation in 2018.
No charges or allegations have come out of the probe. Investigations are ongoing and no other information is available right now, a Singapore Police Force spokeswoman said by email.
Police are now also investigating Hin Leong, after the firm told creditors that its liabilities were $4.05 billion as of early April against assets of just $714 million, leaving a hole of about $3.34 billion.
On Tuesday, Singapore’s High Court approved PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC as interim judicial manager of Hin Leong, meaning the firm will oversee the company’s finances and negotiate with creditors.
Hin Leong doesn’t have to file financial statements because of its classification as “an exempt private company” with fewer than 20 members and does not have any corporations holding beneficial interest in its shares. It declared revenue of more than $20 billion in its 2019 financial year.
“How can a company with $20 billion revenue and this amount of assets and liabilities be an exempt private company?” Mak said. “This is a serious deficiency in our regulation. There are so many stakeholders who will be affected by this.”
— With assistance by Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Alfred Cang, and Serene Cheong
(Updates with court approval of interim judicial manager in third paragraph from the end)
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
April 27, 2020, 5:00 PM EDT
Updated on April 28, 2020, 2:55 AM EDT
Fabled trading house said it hid $800 million in losses
Noble Group, Agritrade and Hontop also had recent collapses
Singapore has long touted itself as the ideal home for a commodity trading house, with low taxes, light regulation and a view of one of the world’s busiest shipping channels.
That hard-earned reputation is now taking a hit after a spate of financial scandals and failures, culminating in the dramatic demise of Hin Leong Trading Pte, the fabled marine fuel trader that has confessed to hiding about $800 million in losses and selling off oil inventories that were backstopping loans.
Just weeks before Hin Leong’s failure, Agritrade International Pte, whose businesses span palm oil and coal mining, collapsed amid allegations of fraud. Hontop Energy Pte, an oil trader linked to a Chinese refiner, entered receivership around the same time, blaming cratering demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And it’s been just a couple of years since Noble Group Ltd., a Singapore-listed firm that was once Asia’s largest commodities house, spiraled into a court-appointed restructuring after allegations of overly aggressive accounting practices.
“The collapse of commodities traders like Noble, Hin Leong and Agritrade hurts our reputation,” said Mak Yuen Teen, an accounting professor who specializes in corporate governance at the National University of Singapore. “Our rules, monitoring and enforcement for companies are weak – and we are now paying a heavy price.”
For observers such as Mak, it raises questions over the strength of Singapore’s regulatory and legal oversight of trading houses, which need vast amounts of bank financing to buy, blend, store and transport raw materials. For others, the problems are inherent in the necessarily secretive and risky modus operandi of the traders themselves, who cultivate every edge to succeed on often razor thin margins, and it just so happens that Singapore is home to a lot of them.
Either way, when a trading house goes down, it creates collateral damage across the system.
Financial Scandals
Financial scandals are nothing new to Singapore, dating back to the original rogue trader, Nick Leeson, whose unauthorized bets on Japanese stock futures resulted in the bankruptcy of Barings Bank in 1995. There have been a string of commodity scandals since, from China Aviation Oil losing $550 million in 2004 to a Mitsubishi Corp. trader losing $314 million last year.
Who When What
Hin Leong 2020 Hid $800 million in oil trading losses
Agritrade 2020 Forged bills of lading hiding potential losses on $600 million of liabilities
Hontop Energy 2020 Trading arm of Chinese refiner went into receivership
Petro-Diamond 2019 ‘Rogue trader’ lost $314 million on oil trades
Noble Group 2015 Allegations of improper accounting foreshadowed firm’s demise
Olam 2012 Muddy Waters accused it of Enron-like accounting problems
Mitsui 2006 $81 million in bad naphtha trades led to closing of Singapore office
China Aviation Oil 2004 $550 million loss in oil derivatives
The country’s Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said in a Bloomberg TV interview last week that he doesn’t think Hin Leong’s collapse would affect the wider market, and that he doesn’t think the case has dented the country’s reputation at this point.
The government takes a firm stance against unlicensed and illegal trading activity, with penalties including fines and imprisonment, said a spokesperson for Enterprise Singapore, the agency that promotes international trade. Otherwise the country remains an attractive location for trading houses, and has a clear and tested set of insolvency laws that allows for the orderly winding down of companies to ensure there’s no systemic contagion, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Traders in Singapore of everything from zinc to oil said their bankers were pulling back from short-term financing. Lenders are asking for more collateral, financing costs have jumped, and in some cases the banks simply won’t issue letters of credit to some smaller companies. That’s echoed by the lenders themselves, who have said they’re reducing their exposure to commodities by cutting short-term loans to some clients and only lending to the biggest traders.
Low Taxes
Singapore courts trading firms around the world to rent office space and hire well-educated locals. The government offers traders corporate tax rates of just 5%, even better than the 13% rates offered to the trading houses that populate the cantons of Switzerland.
It means that between 60% and 80% of the world’s top oil, metals and agricultural companies are operating in the city state, according to Enterprise Singapore’s website.
“You see Singapore showing up in the commodity problems because they have gone out and provided aggressive financial incentives for people to locate these commodity trading businesses in Singapore,” said Michael Dee, a former senior managing director at Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. “So you have a higher propensity for those businesses to be in Singapore.”
Dee was a high profile critic of both Noble Group and agricultural trader Olam International Ltd., which survived a short-selling attack by Muddy Waters LLC after being rescued by Dee’s former firm.
And Singapore certainly has its defenders. The city-state’s regulations are no more lax than any other major financial hub, according to Jean-Francois Lambert, an industry consultant and former trade finance banker with HSBC Holdings Plc. The fundamental issue is that physical and financial commodity trading is difficult to understand and monitor from outside the company, he said.
Singapore has to walk a fine line between being agile and resourceful in attracting new traders, while not tolerating bad behavior, said John Driscoll, a veteran oil trader and analyst who now lectures on the topic at Singapore Management University.
“They’re supportive, but at the same time it’s not the Wild West,” he said.
Police Investigations
Regulators in the city state have drawn criticism for being slow to react to problems. Noble had been under fire from an ex-employee and short-sellers such as Muddy Waters for three years when authorities opened an investigation in 2018.
No charges or allegations have come out of the probe. Investigations are ongoing and no other information is available right now, a Singapore Police Force spokeswoman said by email.
Police are now also investigating Hin Leong, after the firm told creditors that its liabilities were $4.05 billion as of early April against assets of just $714 million, leaving a hole of about $3.34 billion.
On Tuesday, Singapore’s High Court approved PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC as interim judicial manager of Hin Leong, meaning the firm will oversee the company’s finances and negotiate with creditors.
Hin Leong doesn’t have to file financial statements because of its classification as “an exempt private company” with fewer than 20 members and does not have any corporations holding beneficial interest in its shares. It declared revenue of more than $20 billion in its 2019 financial year.
“How can a company with $20 billion revenue and this amount of assets and liabilities be an exempt private company?” Mak said. “This is a serious deficiency in our regulation. There are so many stakeholders who will be affected by this.”
— With assistance by Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Alfred Cang, and Serene Cheong
(Updates with court approval of interim judicial manager in third paragraph from the end)
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
well said
Dumbfuck betted on China. That was his final nail. He’s been on the wrong side of the trade and losing for years before this. Not savvy enough.
it's easy on our part to say the chap gambled and thus deserves to lose his pants ....how many of us here knows its a vicious cycle almost all business gets entangled and embarked into
not only in high volitle oil as a commodity but almost any kind of trading will eventually balloon and burst ..
ii goes like this ...in a small buisness ,most likely family or individual owned sudden windfall which is termed good foresight or excellent calculated risk ...than that calls for expansion which means more manpower and better office facilities ...which tantamount to what we call in accounting terms as fixed expenditures or overheads ...simply meaning you will pay for those regardless you just sit still or do business ....of course ,there are expenses too that are more or less depending on the volume of business
than there are other factors too....the banks and your creditors....as your business expands higher targets and volume are demanded by these vultures .....in short, let say A bank sets a credit limit of 1 million for your company ...A bank expect you to use it fully because thats where the A bank earns to pay fraction of it's expenses ...if you don't than A bank gonna cut that limit to half a million ...and doesnt end there....soon other banks and creditors gets the wind and also want to cut your life line
so,you are trapped...you must now pay your expanded expenditures come month and keep your banks and creditors pretty plessed top
that is the vicious cycle all family businesses eventually gets into ...resorting to gambling or taking unnecessary
risks....but if the management could be divorced from equity...the very fact its professionally mqnaged gives some hope but not entirely too
in an enviranment like singapore where the overheads are very very high ...such boom and burst burst stories are norm ...whreas in countries where the same overheads are far less the staying power is much more and companies live longer ...but that is another story altogether since its places like Singapore ,New York and London where opportunities to trade is abundant and all facilities including shipping and banking are closer too
not only in high volitle oil as a commodity but almost any kind of trading will eventually balloon and burst ..
ii goes like this ...in a small buisness ,most likely family or individual owned sudden windfall which is termed good foresight or excellent calculated risk ...than that calls for expansion which means more manpower and better office facilities ...which tantamount to what we call in accounting terms as fixed expenditures or overheads ...simply meaning you will pay for those regardless you just sit still or do business ....of course ,there are expenses too that are more or less depending on the volume of business
than there are other factors too....the banks and your creditors....as your business expands higher targets and volume are demanded by these vultures .....in short, let say A bank sets a credit limit of 1 million for your company ...A bank expect you to use it fully because thats where the A bank earns to pay fraction of it's expenses ...if you don't than A bank gonna cut that limit to half a million ...and doesnt end there....soon other banks and creditors gets the wind and also want to cut your life line
so,you are trapped...you must now pay your expanded expenditures come month and keep your banks and creditors pretty plessed top
that is the vicious cycle all family businesses eventually gets into ...resorting to gambling or taking unnecessary
risks....but if the management could be divorced from equity...the very fact its professionally mqnaged gives some hope but not entirely too
in an enviranment like singapore where the overheads are very very high ...such boom and burst burst stories are norm ...whreas in countries where the same overheads are far less the staying power is much more and companies live longer ...but that is another story altogether since its places like Singapore ,New York and London where opportunities to trade is abundant and all facilities including shipping and banking are closer too
Last edited:
Crude crash ruins Singapore oil tycoon
published : 1 May 2020 at 11:45
writer: AFP
Oil tankers anchored off the western shores of Singapore, where tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
Oil tankers anchored off the western shores of Singapore, where tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
SINGAPORE: Singapore tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
But it all came crashing down when oil markets were plunged into unprecedented turmoil by the coronavirus pandemic and revealed the keen poker player appeared to have overplayed his hand.
Lim -- who projected a down-to-earth image but was, according to people who knew him, a "major risk-taker" -- dashed to court seeking protection from creditors for his firm Hin Leong Trading last month.
In a bombshell affidavit seen by AFP, Lim revealed the oil trader had "in truth... not been making profits in the last few years" -- despite having officially reported a healthy profit in 2019.
He admitted the firm he founded in the 1960s after emigrating from China had hidden $800 million in losses over the years, while it also owes almost $4 billion to banks.
ADVERTISING
Lim took responsibility for ordering the company, one of Asia's biggest oil traders, not to report the losses and also confessed it had sold off inventories that were supposed to backstop loans.
Hin Leong -- meaning "prosperity" in Chinese -- is one of the biggest industry casualties yet of the crude market collapse, and its demise last month marks an ignominious fall from grace for Lim.
- 'Major risk-taker' -
The businessman -- whose full name is Lim Oon Kuin -- started the company with a single delivery truck shortly before Singapore became independent in 1965.
It grew into a major supplier of fuel used by ships, and its rise in some ways mirrored Singapore's growth from a gritty port to an affluent financial hub.
The firm played a key role in helping the city-state become the world's top ship refuelling port, observers say, and it expanded into ship chartering and management with a subsidiary that has a fleet of more than 150 vessels.
The picture that emerges of Lim himself, now in his 70s, is complex.
On one hand, he was a low-profile individual who sought to project a humble image -- you would not know he was a wealthy tycoon if you saw him walking down the street, according to those who knew him.
But he maintained a firm grip on Hin Leong, with one oil trader in Singapore -- who spoke anonymously -- describing him as a "typical Asian patriarch making all the decisions for the family business".
Jorge Montepeque, a veteran crude market executive who did business with Lim for a decade until 2001, said the Hin Leong founder could appear "almost detached" in meetings, as if unaware of what was happening.
"But that's not true, he very much knows what is going on... The reality is that he has been a major risk-taker," he told AFP.
- 'Too big to fail' -
The firm's collapse has prompted a police investigation and sent shockwaves through the financial community, with a government agency offering assurances that the city-state's "oil-trading sector remains resilient".
The Singapore oil trade told AFP: "Nobody appeared to have thought that anything was amiss.
"The sentiment was that Hin Leong was too big to fail."
But it appears that taking risks and failing to hedge against a downturn came back to bite Hin Leong when it was hit by a double blow -- a Saudi-Russia price war and a virus-triggered demand shock.
Global oil demand has collapsed by around a third, according to some estimates, as the virus pandemic brings economic activity to a standstill.
A slide presentation made by Hin Leong for creditors before it went to court showed the company had total liabilities of $4.05 billion against assets of $714 million.
Bank debts of $3.85 billion comprised the lion's share of its liabilities -- with large sums owed to lenders including HSBC, Dutch bank ABN Amro and France's Societe Generale.
"What caught many by surprise was that they didn't have the cash. I mean, these guys were big," the oil trader said.
Hin Leong did not respond to requests to comment from AFP.
Lim has stepped down from his positions as director and managing director, although Hin Leong's final fate is still uncertain at this stage.
Observers say that the firm had likely hoped China would contain the virus and the oil market turmoil would be short-lived.
But such a strategy, said oil executive Montepeque, was like "taking all your assets and putting them all on the red on the casino roulette".
And after reading Lim's confessions, Montepeque said he believed the "game was up" for Hin Leong.
0
16
Student hairstyle rules relaxed
The Education Ministry has reaffirmed that students can wear their hair long, so long as it is neat and tidy.
18:19
Masks, hand gel and PPE gear worth B5m seized
The Department of Special Investigation has seized 5 million baht worth of face masks, hand sanitiser and protective clothing and arrested a man during a raid on a townhouse in Thawi Watthana district of Bangkok.
17:36
Manila frees 10,000 inmates
MANILA: Nearly 10,000 prison inmates have been released in the Philippines as the country races to halt coronavirus infections in its overcrowded jails, a Supreme Court official said Saturday.
16:59
Bangkok Post Public Company Limited
published : 1 May 2020 at 11:45
writer: AFP
Oil tankers anchored off the western shores of Singapore, where tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
Oil tankers anchored off the western shores of Singapore, where tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
SINGAPORE: Singapore tycoon O.K. Lim built up his oil empire from a single-truck outfit through hard work and high-risk gambles, a rags-to-riches tale that made him a legend among crude traders.
But it all came crashing down when oil markets were plunged into unprecedented turmoil by the coronavirus pandemic and revealed the keen poker player appeared to have overplayed his hand.
Lim -- who projected a down-to-earth image but was, according to people who knew him, a "major risk-taker" -- dashed to court seeking protection from creditors for his firm Hin Leong Trading last month.
In a bombshell affidavit seen by AFP, Lim revealed the oil trader had "in truth... not been making profits in the last few years" -- despite having officially reported a healthy profit in 2019.
He admitted the firm he founded in the 1960s after emigrating from China had hidden $800 million in losses over the years, while it also owes almost $4 billion to banks.
ADVERTISING
Lim took responsibility for ordering the company, one of Asia's biggest oil traders, not to report the losses and also confessed it had sold off inventories that were supposed to backstop loans.
Hin Leong -- meaning "prosperity" in Chinese -- is one of the biggest industry casualties yet of the crude market collapse, and its demise last month marks an ignominious fall from grace for Lim.
- 'Major risk-taker' -
The businessman -- whose full name is Lim Oon Kuin -- started the company with a single delivery truck shortly before Singapore became independent in 1965.
It grew into a major supplier of fuel used by ships, and its rise in some ways mirrored Singapore's growth from a gritty port to an affluent financial hub.
The firm played a key role in helping the city-state become the world's top ship refuelling port, observers say, and it expanded into ship chartering and management with a subsidiary that has a fleet of more than 150 vessels.
The picture that emerges of Lim himself, now in his 70s, is complex.
On one hand, he was a low-profile individual who sought to project a humble image -- you would not know he was a wealthy tycoon if you saw him walking down the street, according to those who knew him.
But he maintained a firm grip on Hin Leong, with one oil trader in Singapore -- who spoke anonymously -- describing him as a "typical Asian patriarch making all the decisions for the family business".
Jorge Montepeque, a veteran crude market executive who did business with Lim for a decade until 2001, said the Hin Leong founder could appear "almost detached" in meetings, as if unaware of what was happening.
"But that's not true, he very much knows what is going on... The reality is that he has been a major risk-taker," he told AFP.
- 'Too big to fail' -
The firm's collapse has prompted a police investigation and sent shockwaves through the financial community, with a government agency offering assurances that the city-state's "oil-trading sector remains resilient".
The Singapore oil trade told AFP: "Nobody appeared to have thought that anything was amiss.
"The sentiment was that Hin Leong was too big to fail."
But it appears that taking risks and failing to hedge against a downturn came back to bite Hin Leong when it was hit by a double blow -- a Saudi-Russia price war and a virus-triggered demand shock.
Global oil demand has collapsed by around a third, according to some estimates, as the virus pandemic brings economic activity to a standstill.
A slide presentation made by Hin Leong for creditors before it went to court showed the company had total liabilities of $4.05 billion against assets of $714 million.
Bank debts of $3.85 billion comprised the lion's share of its liabilities -- with large sums owed to lenders including HSBC, Dutch bank ABN Amro and France's Societe Generale.
"What caught many by surprise was that they didn't have the cash. I mean, these guys were big," the oil trader said.
Hin Leong did not respond to requests to comment from AFP.
Lim has stepped down from his positions as director and managing director, although Hin Leong's final fate is still uncertain at this stage.
Observers say that the firm had likely hoped China would contain the virus and the oil market turmoil would be short-lived.
But such a strategy, said oil executive Montepeque, was like "taking all your assets and putting them all on the red on the casino roulette".
And after reading Lim's confessions, Montepeque said he believed the "game was up" for Hin Leong.
0
16
Student hairstyle rules relaxed
The Education Ministry has reaffirmed that students can wear their hair long, so long as it is neat and tidy.
18:19
Masks, hand gel and PPE gear worth B5m seized
The Department of Special Investigation has seized 5 million baht worth of face masks, hand sanitiser and protective clothing and arrested a man during a raid on a townhouse in Thawi Watthana district of Bangkok.
17:36
Manila frees 10,000 inmates
MANILA: Nearly 10,000 prison inmates have been released in the Philippines as the country races to halt coronavirus infections in its overcrowded jails, a Supreme Court official said Saturday.
16:59
Bangkok Post Public Company Limited
another hokkien hero.
So, he will spent the rest of his life in jail?
Hin Leong shipping unit Ocean Tankers seeks judicial management
Besides oil trading, Hin Leong also has operations across terminal and storage, bunker supply, lubricants manufacturing and inland transportation services. (Photo: Hin Leong's website)
12 May 2020 10:51AM(Updated: 12 May 2020 11:00AM)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Singaporean shipping firm Ocean Tankers, a unit of troubled oil trader Hin Leong Trading, has applied to be placed under the management of a court-appointed supervisor, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Singapore's High Court is due to hold a hearing on an application by Ocean Tankers on Tuesday (May 12), according to a notice on the Supreme Court website. The notice did not give further details.
Hin Leong and Ocean Tankers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hin Leong, one of Asia's top oil traders, was placed under judicial management late last month as it seeks to restructure billions of dollars of debt.
READ: Sembcorp unit begins proceedings against Hin Leong affiliate over gasoil deal
Hin Leong owes US$3.8 billion (S$5.3 billion) to 23 banks, according to a company presentation to lenders on Apr 14, contained in an affidavit in court filings. The affidavit was reviewed by Reuters but has not been made public.
Advertisement
In the affidavit, Hin Leong's founder Lim Oon Kuin, also known as O K Lim, said he had directed the firm not to disclose $800 million in losses over several years.
The Singapore police said in April they had launched an investigation following news of Hin Leong's losses.
O K Lim's son Chee Meng Lim, a director at Ocean Tankers and Hin Leong, reassured stakeholders in a letter dated Apr 15 and seen by Reuters that the shipping company was a separate entity from Hin Leong and it had not guaranteed its debts.
Ocean Tankers, founded in 1978, manages and operates a fleet of about 100 vessels ranging from coastal barges to very large crude carriers, according to the company website.
Source: Reuters/lk
Besides oil trading, Hin Leong also has operations across terminal and storage, bunker supply, lubricants manufacturing and inland transportation services. (Photo: Hin Leong's website)
12 May 2020 10:51AM(Updated: 12 May 2020 11:00AM)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Singaporean shipping firm Ocean Tankers, a unit of troubled oil trader Hin Leong Trading, has applied to be placed under the management of a court-appointed supervisor, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Singapore's High Court is due to hold a hearing on an application by Ocean Tankers on Tuesday (May 12), according to a notice on the Supreme Court website. The notice did not give further details.
Hin Leong and Ocean Tankers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hin Leong, one of Asia's top oil traders, was placed under judicial management late last month as it seeks to restructure billions of dollars of debt.
READ: Sembcorp unit begins proceedings against Hin Leong affiliate over gasoil deal
Hin Leong owes US$3.8 billion (S$5.3 billion) to 23 banks, according to a company presentation to lenders on Apr 14, contained in an affidavit in court filings. The affidavit was reviewed by Reuters but has not been made public.
Advertisement
In the affidavit, Hin Leong's founder Lim Oon Kuin, also known as O K Lim, said he had directed the firm not to disclose $800 million in losses over several years.
The Singapore police said in April they had launched an investigation following news of Hin Leong's losses.
O K Lim's son Chee Meng Lim, a director at Ocean Tankers and Hin Leong, reassured stakeholders in a letter dated Apr 15 and seen by Reuters that the shipping company was a separate entity from Hin Leong and it had not guaranteed its debts.
Ocean Tankers, founded in 1978, manages and operates a fleet of about 100 vessels ranging from coastal barges to very large crude carriers, according to the company website.
Source: Reuters/lk
Nobody bigger than him.
The others are coochy rats. Too small to bother. There was a china based crude oil trader by tbe name of titan. He too had huge tankers. Dunno what happened to him. I think that went bust earlier.
Maybe for cooking the books and fooled the banks.
How he lost I dunno as he is a trader and not a gambler. Maybe somebody in china decided not to pay for one shipment. That can happen.
In this case, his oil stocks devalued to worthless ftom USD 50-60/ bbl.6 month moratorium maybe hoping oil prices will escalate to pre MBS madness. It was mohamad bin salman of saudi that dumped crude oil to protect his market share.
he is a gambler and not a trader, it's the same anyway, trading is also gambling.
Trading you need to keep stock of your oil. If price plunge, then you lose.
when you gambled and win , you are celebrated as a Legendary Trader. some will even worship you . call u a Maverick.
when you wager and lose, its a different story... you can fill in all the blank...
It’s not what you think.
