KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 25): The Kuala Lumpur High Court has granted financially distressed Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) a further three-month extension of a restraining order pursuant to a scheme of arrangement.

The order was granted by Judicial Commissioner Liza Chan Sow Keng during a BNS hearing at the High Court on Tuesday (Jan 25), with Lee Shih and Nathalie Ker of Lim Chee Wee Partnership acting on behalf of the company, which is a subsidiary of Boustead Holdings Bhd.

theedgemarket.com is given to understand that the court granted the extension of the restraining order for three months effective from Dec 2, 2021 (and up to March 2, 2022). This is part of BNS’s ongoing scheme of arrangement.

On Oct 4, 2021, BNS was granted an extension of a restraining order by the High Court to Dec 2, 2021, in addition to permission to hold a creditors' meeting for a scheme of arrangement.

Earlier on June 2, 2021, Chan had granted BNS a three-month restraining order and leave to proceed with a scheme of arrangement with its creditors. The court had also granted an order for BNS creditors to meet, and, if thought fit, approve the scheme of arrangement.

It also granted a restraining order on proceedings against BNS or its assets for three months following a winding-up petition by MTU Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in July 2020 over a debt of RM56.04 million.

On March 29, 2021, the winding-up petition was struck out.

Prior to that, BNS had in October 2020 obtained an ad interim restraining order to restrain its scheme creditors from initiating legal proceedings against the company.

The ad interim restraining order will not restrain or stay the continuation of legal proceedings brought by MTU Services and Ingat Kawan (M) Sdn Bhd.

Since then, it is understood that other creditors have intervened in the ongoing court proceedings over the scheme of arrangement.

They include Contraves Sdn Bhd, Axima Concept SA, Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd, Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd and Tyco Fire, Security & Services Malaysia Sdn Bhd, as well as iXblue SAS, iXblue Sdn Bhd and Protank Mission Systems Sdn Bhd.

Financial institution creditors are Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd, AmBank Islamic Bhd, AmBank (M) Bhd, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, Affin Bank Bhd, Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd.

Boustead’s share price closed the day 1.83% or one sen lower to 53.5 sen, which translates into a market capitalisation of RM1.08 billion.