How Lum, who earned a string of international accolades as one of the world’s most lauded female entrepreneurs, came to this point has raised questions about the culture of investment in Singapore and rattled the island’s reputation for the checks and balances on how its companies are run.
(Apr 11): Olivia Lum is running out of time to save the company she spent a lifetime building.
The founder of Singapore-based water and power company Hyflux, which could see its court protection from creditors expire at the end of the month, has had a torrid two weeks. A white-knight takeover that might have kept the company together has collapsed, hundreds of angry creditors protested in public, and the government appears set to step in and take over part of the company’s biggest asset for nothing.
