Stung by the breakdown of Asia’s top independent oil trading firm, some global banks have collaborated to look for the individual resources of the family behind Hin Leong Trading, which has left loan bosses on the snare for billions of dollars.
As a component of what sources say is the greatest legitimate case in living memory in Singapore, liquidators and creditors are chasing for resources from the city-state to China to Australia having a place with the Lim family, after the Singapore-based organization was wound up in March.
At a conference on Monday, court-appointed liquidators will ask the Singapore High Court to freeze the family’s resources around the world, from multimillion-dollar homes to country club enrollments, shares and funds, authoritative sources disclosed.
Hin Leong fizzled in a year-long exertion to rebuild about $3.5 billion in obligations after the Coronavirus led oil crash uncovered tremendous misfortunes. Originator Lim Oon Kuin conceded in a court document a year ago to coordinating the firm not to disclose a huge number of dollars in misfortunes more than quite a while.
In any event twelve lenders, ready to recover just $270 million from the imploded organization, are pursuing the resources of the investor, known as O.K. Lim, his child Evan Lim and girl Lim Huey Ching.
“There isn’t a lot of cash left in the organization, yet the family has numerous resources, so the banks are currently attempting to pursue those,” said one of the sources.
The senior Lim, 78, who began his sprawling empire by conveying diesel in a truck in 1963, was once positioned among Singapore’s 18 most extravagant individuals by Forbes. The magazine said a year ago he was valued at $1.3 billion, while the sources gauge the family’s abundance at up to $2 billion in Singapore alone.
Banks, which started to pull credit lines from Hin Leong a year ago, have not been able to recuover any significant assets from Hin Leong up until now.
Of the almost two dozen banks associated with Hin Leong, in any event four have sued the family, court records show: France’s Natixis SA, Bank of China, Hong kong and Shanghai Banking Corp and the Dutch-based loan specialist Rabobank.
The Lim family, their legitimate agent, the outlets and their law office didn’t promptly answer to inquiries on the matter. Rabobank, Natixis and HSBC declined remark, while there was no reaction from Bank of China.
Detectives for hire, Conceptualizing
As well as employing private detectives to uncover the family’s resources, a portion of the banks are making the strange stride of meeting casually to share data on their inquiry, the sources said.
While directors are commonly not actually at risk for the obligations of their Singapore-enrolled organizations, they can be if fraud is included, legal counselors say.
O.K. Lim has been accused by Singapore examiners of two checks of abetting falsification over his bearings that the firm shroud misfortunes. The examiners said for this present week they hope to accuse him on Thursday of 23 additional checks of falsification related offenses.
33% of the approximately 150 ships claimed by the family’s Xihe Group have been sold for at any rate $420 million, as indicated by VesselsValue, which tracks transport deals.
The Lims have additionally raised some $300 million to $370 million from selling their stake in Singapore’s valued Universal Terminal Oil Storage facility, two sources said.
With O.K. Lim said to be in chronic health and the family addressed by a top Singapore litigator, who has recently addressed the city-state’s prime minister, creditors expect the Hin Leong legal adventure to delay.
