Most oBike users have not filed claims for deposit refund
Only about $400k worth of claims filed against bicycle operator
The majority of oBike users have not yet filed claims to retrieve their deposits, the firm's liquidators revealed yesterday.
But even for those who have filed claims, there is no timeline yet as to when they can get their money back, as liquidator FTI Consulting continues debt settlement talks with oBike's new majority shareholder.
The bicycle operator ended its Singapore operations unexpectedly last June, after about 18 months of operating here.
Its sudden exit had left users wondering whether they would get a refund of the deposit of up to $49, which they had to make in order to use the bikes.
As of Tuesday noon, deposit holders have lodged only $438,878.43 worth of claims, a small percentage of the $8.91 million that the company registered in its records.
"Quite a lot of deposit holders are yet to file their claims with the liquidators," said FTI's senior managing director Joshua Taylor.
According to oBike's records, it has more than 220,000 deposit holders in Singapore.
The liquidators did not announce a breakdown of the number of people who have already filed for refunds at the meeting with oBike's creditors at Shaw Tower yesterday.
About 18 people, made up of both oBike users with unrefunded deposits and companies that are owed money, attended the 42-minute session.
In contrast to the fraction of users who are looking to retrieve their deposit, a much larger proportion of other creditors have already filed claims against oBike.
As of Tuesday noon, trade creditors, vendors, regulatory agencies and town councils have filed $768,700 of claims against oBike, higher than about $497,700 of outstanding claims stated in the firm's records.
Mr Taylor also revealed that FTI had recovered about $541,000 from oBike through selling its bicycles and recovering funds held by third-party service providers.
Creditors are unlikely to receive a payout from this sum, he said in response to a question from an attendee.
"That is an option, but if you look at it, there's cost and expenses associated with liquidation... so if we did that I don't think there will be a great return at all to creditors," said Mr Taylor.
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