THE board of directors of Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (SDHB) today filed an appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to wind up the company and its three subsidiaries.

In a statement, SDHB said it also filed an appeal against the court’s decision yesterday in not allowing the company’s application to adjourn the hearing of the winding up.

“The board of directors wishes to further inform that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Serba Dinamik International Ltd (SDIL), will be applying to set aside the High Court’s decision to wind up SDIL,” the company said.

“The board has received advice that the order to wind up SDIL was made ultra vires.”

SDHB said the board has instructed its solicitors to file an application to stay the court’s order to wind up the company to ensure continuation of its business pending a decision by the Court of Appeal.

“The board has also instructed its solicitors to file an application to stay the winding up of SDIL pending the hearing of application to set aside the order made against SDIL,” it said.

The company said it has filed an application to seek an adjournment of the hearing of the winding-up petition at the High Court yesterday on the basis that, among others, it was informed by an associate company of the group that the associate company is prepared to sell the stake of the associate company or the assets within the associate company for an estimated net proceeds of US$700 million (RM3.06 billion).

SDHB said SDIL’s share of the sale proceeds can be used to pay down the debt of the group.

“There is an active negotiation with the prospect on the proposed sale. With due respect, the SDHB board takes the position that an adjournment of the hearing will allow the parties, including the interim liquidator to deliberate on the proposed sale,” it said.

“The board trusts that an orderly sale of the assets of the company and its group will maximise return to the creditors of the group.

“Based on the aforesaid, the board will be exercising its residuary powers to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow an adjournment of the hearing.”

Yesterday, judicial commissioner Ahmad Murad Abdul Aziz allowed a petition filed by six financial institutions to wind up SDHB and its subsidiaries, SDIL, Serba Dinamik Group Bhd and Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd.

The six financial institutions acting as the suit’s petitioners are Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd, HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd, AmBank Islamic Bhd, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd.

The four companies are said to have a total debt of close to RM5 billion. – Bernama, January 11, 2023.