The extension was granted by CDRC, a committee under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), after considering the oil and gas services provider’s progress of its proposed restructuring scheme, it said in a bourse filing.

The extension of the restraining orders, which also end on March 10 next year, by the High Court against Sapura Energy’s creditors in June was also a factor in the CDRC’s decision, it added.

The group said MCF financiers will have to continue to observe the informal standstill and withhold all legal proceedings, or any other recovery action initiated or intended against Sapura Energy or its group of companies in line with BNM’s CDRC participants code of conduct.

Sapura Energy is in debt restructuring negotiations with its creditors who are owed RM10.3 billion, with additional debt to vendors amounting to RM5.3 billion. It had sought CDRC’s extension of the end-date of its standstill to Sept 9, granted by the committee in February.

CDRC had accepted Sapura Energy’s application to mediate in the group’s debt restructuring negotiations with its MCF financiers back in September last year.

The committee was established as a pre-emptive measure by the Malaysian government to provide a platform for corporate borrowers and their creditors to work out feasible debt resolutions without having to resort to legal proceedings.

CDRC was first established during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and was successful in resolving 57 cases with a total debt outstanding of RM45.8 billion, helping to accelerate the country’s recovery from the crisis.

Sapura Energy’s shares ended half-a-sen lower at 5.5 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM878.9 million.