Singapore's Hyflux files for liquidation after investor talks fail

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - The judicial managers of Singapore's Hyflux Ltd said they have applied to a court to liquidate the company after talks for an investment into the embattled water treatment firm failed.

"Given the negotiations with the investor for an investment in the entire Hyflux Group were unsuccessful and consequently a restructuring not possible, the continuation of the judicial management of the company is no longer necessary," the managers from Borrelli Walsh said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.

They said the remaining value of Hyflux was best realised in a liquidation, adding that remaining bids to buy the company's individual assets could be facilitated through winding its up.

Debt-laden Hyflux, once seen as a national champion running a strategically important water source for tiny, natural resource-poor Singapore, filed for a court-supervised financial restructuring in 2018 and defaulted on its debt payments. It was placed under judicial management in November.

National water agency PUB took over the company's key water treatment plant two years ago.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the firm and its current and former directors.

Hyflux's financial distress has battered the holdings of nearly 50,000 retail investors, including shareholders and bond holders, according to an investor group.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Editing by William Mallard)