Page 92 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

Singapore’s 50 Richest

OLIVIA LUM

Underwater World

n 2005, Olivia Lum debuted on the list of
Southeast Asia’s 40 wealthiest. he founder
Iof water-treatment irm Hy ux saw her
fortune surge to $460 million in 2011, a year
in which she also became the irst woman to
receive Ernst & Young’s World Entrepreneur
Award. A year later, the self-made Lum featured
on Forbes Asia’s inaugural list of Asia’s 50 Power
Businesswomen.
Today Lum is struggling with shocked
investors ater Hy ux sought and won court
protection in May to tackle mounting debts
and reorganize its business, which now includes
power generation. For 2017, the company
reported its irst-ever annual loss, amounting
to $85 million, with further losses in the irst
quarter of 2018. Total liabilities, including bank
debt, are $2.1 billion. Things have dried up for Lum’s Hyflux
Lum, 57, who fell from the ranks of the 50
since she was on our cover in 2005.
richest in 2013, blames the losses on an oversup-
ply of gas that depressed Singapore electricity Singapore and then worked as a chemist
prices, creating a liquidity crunch with a knock- for GlaxoSmithKline.
on hit to the irm’s overall cash position. Lum In 1989, at age 28, Lum founded her
has sought to sell the irm’s landmark Tuaspring Singapore water business, initially called
plant, Asia’s irst integrated water-and-power Hydrochem, raising $15,000 as startup
project, which supplies power for desalination as capital by selling her condominium and
well as the electricity grid and remains in the red. car. In the early days Lum acted as an agent
Also dragging on the bottom line is its unsold for large companies, selling water ilters
Tianjin Dagang desalination plant in China. and treatment chemicals.
Hy ux’s market cap stands at $121 million, Listing in 2001, Hy ux became a
a steep fall from the 2010 peak of $1.6 billion. storied Singapore star, building the island
he shares, which had been down 44% for the nation’s irst wastewater recycling plant, as
year, were suspended May 23, afecting more than 50,000 retail well as becoming a global leader in water treatment. With oices
and institutional investors. Also halted: payments on its high-yield in eight countries and a workforce of 2,500 employees, it has deliv-
perpetual securities. ered clean drinking water to China, the Middle East and Africa.
Lum says she opted for reorganization over attempting to Hy ux maintains it is still bidding for new contracts—it
“ride out the storm.” Meanwhile, she insists, it’s business as recently won two—noting the irm is not in bankruptcy or plan-
usual as she continues talks with potential buyers for the two ning to delist. Bond analyst Ang Chung Yuh of iFast Financial
plants and 19 potential inanciers. Hy ux is seeking a $150 mil- in Singapore says a “longer-term question mark” remains about
lion cash injection. the company’s business model following years of taking a highly
It’s a bitter pill for the Malaysian-born chief executive, an leveraged approach. OCBC’s credit research analyst, Ezien Hoo, THE STRAITS TIMES © SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED (TOP)
adopted child from a poor background, who moved to Singapore predicts that even if Hy ux is successfully restructured, it will
for high school at age 15. A bright student, she went on to gradu- likely emerge “smaller in scale with a narrower business scope.”
ate with a degree in chemistry from the National University of —Jane A. Peterson

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90 | FORBES ASIA JULY / AUGUST 2018