Singapore eyes being regional debt restructuring hub

It has registered six cases before its courts following the Companies Act amendment.

Bloomberg reports that Singapore has made “a good start” in its bid to become a debt restructuring hub in the region, with six workout cases filed before its courts after it adopted U.S. Chapter 11-like incentives in local company laws this year, a senior government official said.

“The fact that we have six filed this year alone after the amendment is an indication that people are certainly looking to try out this new restructuring regime,” Indranee Rajah, senior minister of state for law and finance, said in an interview Tuesday. The key to a good restructuring is for counsels, the parties and the court “to take a commercial approach to it,” she said.

Singapore, aiming to bolster its position as a center for debt revamps, amended the Companies Act in March, giving worldwide effect for debt moratorium, enabling debtor-in-possession financing, and granting rescue-capital providers super-priority claims on assets over existing creditors. Such features are among the hallmarks of U.S. bankruptcy law.

Here’s more from Bloomberg.