The Singapore High Court has appointed Grant Thornton Singapore as the supervisor of Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd and four of its subsidiaries, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
The court decision followed an application by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC) to place Xihe Holdings and the subsidiaries under the business adviser's supervision.
The subsidiaries involved are Da Xin Tankers (Pte) Ltd, Hua Guang Shipping Pte Ltd, Nan King Maritime (Pte) Ltd and Hua Xin Shipping Pte Ltd and these units together own five ships.
Xihe Holdings is part of the Lim family business empire, which also includes oil trader Hin Leong Trading and fleet manager Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, both of which were placed under court-appointed supervisors earlier this year.
Xihe Holdings, OCBC and Grant Thornton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lim Oon Kuin, also known as O.K. Lim, with his son Evan Lim Chee Meng and daughter Lim Huey Ching, owns 77 companies under the Xihe Group, which consists mainly of Xihe Holdings and Xihe Capital. Xihe Group owns 136 ships ranging from coastal barges to very large crude carriers (VLCCs).
The source declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
(Reporting by Florence Tan and Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Jan Harvey and Barbara Lewis)