News about the financial crisis of grocery and food delivery startup, Honestbee was released in May 2019. Since then, the Singapore-based company has filed with the High Court for a court-supervised restructuring process in August. It is said that the company owes its creditors a total of $209 million in debt and this court-supervised process will give the startup a six-month reprieve.
In order to reduce further reduce debt, Honestbee has announced its intention to restructure its operations around the region and has announced its exit from markets such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong. This will help the startup support the operations of its existing business.
Speaking to Dealstreet Asia, Reshmi Khurana, Managing Director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations practice at Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps, said this debt-to-equity conversion will help the troubled startup clean up its balance sheet. On the question whether anybody will recoup any money, Reshmi answered: “That depends on the financial health of Honestbee and how the restructuring will go. But with the court, there will be fewer chances of dispute or at least there a single channel to handle, except in the case of allegations.”
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