For what it’s worth, I’ve held shares in three companies that went bankrupt, and the shares became (and are) worthless — a total wipeout.(*) In one of those cases the shares were a gift, and I received a few dividends, so I came out ahead. In the other two cases I received a few dividends but came out very much behind. In all three cases the positions were extremely small relative to total household wealth. I never should have bought the two companies’ shares because individual company investing is generally quite dumb.
You learn, and you move on, that’s all.
(*) As a U.S. person I got to take capital losses, which offset capital gains tax. There’s an annual limit to capital losses, but I was able to take the full losses for the non-gift shares since they were such small positions. I guess that’s something. Hyflux investors who are U.S. persons or who live in practically any country with a capital gains tax would very much appreciate a definitive resolution, notably liquidation, because they would then be able to take the capital losses. A “zombie” company is not helpful to them, because (ordinarily) the capital loss tax rule requires an actual, realized loss. The sooner reality is properly documented for the tax authorities, the better. Institutional shareholders often have greater tax-related flexibility to do partial write-offs for tax purposes, but individual investors ordinarily don’t. Maybe these investors can sell their bonds/notes on the secondary market in order to realize their losses, but shareholders cannot since trading has been halted. This is the worst of all possible worlds, really. They’re sitting on huge but unrealized losses, no way to close out their positions to realize the losses, and no prospect of ever getting any other result except a big loss. Does anybody have any sympathy for their plight?