Tuesday 2016-09-20

Fallout from the Swiber bankruptcy, all in one cute bloomberg article.

... About 20 percent of Singaporean households live in private housing, government data show.

“They are wealthy by technical definition, but in reality they may not have enough disposable assets to withstand such losses,” said Lee at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. “There are many Swiber bond investors who are left high and dry as they were persuaded by their bankers to buy such high-yield products with money they can ill afford to lose.”

More than 80 percent of some Swiber bond issues were sold to clients of Singapore private banks, which cater for the wealthiest investors. Swiber is currently under interim judicial management and missed a payment on a bond coupon in August, which triggered cross defaults on all its issues.

The growing signs of stress in Singapore’s domestic bond market suggest wealthy investors may face further losses. Last week, Rickmers Maritime and Marco Polo Marine Ltd. said they are having difficulty with bond repayments, as their operations have been hurt by weaker oil prices.

The wealthy are especially vulnerable because of their large exposure to the local bond market. Private-bank clients bought about 44 percent of Singapore-dollar bonds issued in 2014, the most of any investor group, MAS figures show.