WongPartnership LLP

Indonesia; Restructuring & Insolvency; Special Situations Advisory

Manoj Pillay Sandrasegara is Co-Head of WongPartnership’s Special Situations Advisory Practice and a Partner in the Indonesia Practice.

He leads the firm’s cross-border restructuring practice in Asia and is globally ranked as a pre-eminent Tier 1 practitioner having extensive experience in complex cross-border debt restructurings act for borrowers, court-appointed administrators and special situation investors.

Work Highlights

Matters of significance in which Manoj has been involved in include acting for the following:

Pacific International Lines on the restructuring of the approximately US$3.3 billion in aggregate of debts and liabilities of the shipping group via a consensual debt re-profiling exercise with its creditors in Singapore. Formulated an innovative and pragmatic structure for a US$112 million emergency cash facility, and pioneered a pre-negotiated restructuring strategy leading to a swift conclusion of in-court proceedings within 4 months. This was the most successful restructuring in Asia in recent history. The Liquidators of the crypto hedge fund 3 Arrows Capital where worldwide applications for recognition and enforcement will be made to help address the estimated US$3.5 billion debt claims. The judicial managers of Xihe Holdings and over 40 of its subsidiaries which are laden with debt and claims as against its assets in excess of S$1 billion. Formulated a comprehensive strategy with the judicial managers to maximise the realisable value of one of the world's largest tanker fleets consisting of over 80 vessels of varying types and sizes, including the design and implementation of a structured sale and trading programme for the vessel fleet, unprecedented in its size, and a potential restructuring of an optimised diversified fleet of vessels. Hyflux Ltd in its US$2.3 billion restructuring. Hyflux Ltd is a water treatment company famous for being a homegrown “Singapore brand”, and its subsidiaries in a restructuring involving at least S$3 billion in liabilities. ExxonMobil in its investment in Jurong Aromatics Limited’s distressed plant which had a US$1.5 billion debt burden. EMAS Chiyoda Subsea Limited and its subsidiaries (“ECS Group”) in a US$1.6 billion cross-border debt restructuring exercise. Obtained stay of proceedings and anti-suit injunction in support of US Chapter 11 restructuring, which was the first time such relief was granted by the Singapore Court. Subsequently obtained recognition of a US Chapter 11 reorganisation plan, another first for the Singapore Court.

Publications & Legal Updates

Getting the Deal Through - Restructuring & Insolvency 2013 to 2017 - Singapore Chapter

English.

Manoj is the Chairman of the Insolvency Practitioner’s Association of Singapore and an elected member of the International Insolvency Institute and an advisory board member of the Singapore Management University’s Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative. He was appointed by the Ministry of Law to the Committee to establish Singapore as a debt restructuring centre in Asia. Manoj is also a regular speaker on the international circuit on cross-border restructurings.

Admitted, 1994, Singapore Bar; National University of Singapore (LL.B., Hons.).