Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh payment demands of over S$3.3 million for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets

Embattled cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes has received more repayment demands of over S$3.3 million in rent arrears and other amounts, owed to the landlords of its outlets at Century Square and Causeway Point.

This includes two statutory demands received on Tuesday (Jul 15), for the payment of S$86,142.31 and S$643,064.36, respectively, owed for the lease of its Century Square outlet.

It also received a statutory demand on the same day, for the sum of S$2.6 million, owed for the lease of its Causeway Point outlet, said its parent company mm2 Asia in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

Cathay Cineplexes has three weeks – by Aug 5 – to pay the full amount, or secure or compound the above sums to the reasonable satisfaction of the landlord, Frasers Centrepoint Trust.

If the cinema chain fails to comply, it shall be deemed to be unable to pay its debts under the provisions of the Singapore Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act, the company said.

Media company mm2 and the Cathay Cineplexes board said they are seeking legal advice regarding the abovementioned matters, and intend to engage with Frasers to explore all available options.

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This announcement comes shortly after the company received a statutory demand of S$7.6 million from Linkwasha Holdings on Jul 9.

The amount owed was related to a loan that Linkwasha extended to mm2, to partially finance the latter’s acquisition of the cinema chain from Cathay Organisation.

Linkwasha, which was a related entity of Cathay Organisation, extended a loan of S$30 million to mm2, for the acquisition worth S$230 million.

As at the date of the statutory demand, mm2 said it had repaid the majority of the loan, with a remaining outstanding amount of S$7.6 million including interests.

On Jul 2, the cinema chain also received a statutory demand from the landlords of its shuttered outlet at Jem shopping mall, asking that it pay up arrears of around S$3.4 million before the end of the month.