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     T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                           A S I A   P A C I F I C

             Friday, August 4, 2000, Vol. 3, No. 151

                                   Headlines


* A U S T R A L I A *

CLUB CROCODILE HOLDINGS: Due for collapse
GREYHOUND PIONEER: Predator sweetens bid
LIBERTYONE: Double blow for Liberty
MITSUBISHI ADELAIDE: Car plant posts $130m loss
ONE.TEL: $300M a year loser
PACIFIC DUNLOP: Unit sale keeps revamp plans on track
SATELLITE GROUP: ASIC extends probe to loans


* C H I N A  &  H O N G  K O N G *

CHINA TELECOM: Plans to discharge 200,000 staff
DAIRY FARM INT'L HLDGS: Posts 6-month loss
GUANGDONG INT'L TRUST: Auctions off assets
JARDINE INT'L MOTOR HLDGS: Posts loss with British ops
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK: To cut 14% of its employees


* I N D O N E S I A *

BANK CENTRIS: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK DEKA: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK ISTIMARAT: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK PELITA: IBRA to take legal action soon
PT TEXAMACO JAYA: Cumulative losses reach Rp272.8B


* J A P A N *

SAKURA DELLSHER: ABN AMRO to assume futures-clearing biz
SHINSEI BANK: 2B yen advisory fees to be returned
SOGO CO.: Chairman's personal assets frozen


* K O R E A *

HYUNDAI GROUP: Creditors threaten financial reprisals


* M A L A Y S I A *

ORIENTAL BANK BHD: S'holders seek more value in merger
PARK MAY BHD: Proposes to reduce debts


* P H I L I P P I N E S *

C&P HOMES INC: Aiming for debt-rehab deal by October
C&P HOMES: Creditors agree to loan restructuring
JADE BANK: BSP checks allegations of irregularities
NATIONAL ELECTRIF.ADMIN.: Granted two-year debt relief


* S I N G A P O R E *

PACIFIC INVEST.HLDGS.: Shares issue for debt bail-out
SINGAPORE UNIT TRUSTS: Loss-maker to be sold


* T H A I L A N D *

BANGKOK LAND: Interest payments waived
SIAM CITY BANK: Facing up to Bt90B in real losses
STANDARD CHARTERED NAKORNTHON BANK: Further staff cuts loom
THAI LUBE BASE: Creditors okay debt plan
THAI PETROCHEM.INDUS.: Court to check more claims


=================
A U S T R A L I A
=================


CLUB CROCODILE HOLDINGS: Due for collapse
-----------------------------------------
Club Crocodile Holdings Limited in July 2000 boasts a group
of nine businesses turning over more than $A25m, and a
staff of 300 people. It would have collapsed in the past
but for the tenacity and management style of its founders,
mining engineer, Phil Dickson, and his partner, Peter
Thynne.

They began with the purchase of a general store in
Queensland and after 18 months of near bankruptcy, managed
to increase the store's turnover by 400 per cent. They then
sold it at a profit.

They then developed a resort and managed to get enough
people to buy shares at $A0.20 each for Club Crocodile.
During their troubled start-up period, they again kept the
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group fully informed and
got the bank manager's continued finance. Their open and
honest communication is used on their staff, resulting in
the business turning around in just over 12 months.  (ABIX
31-July-2000)

GREYHOUND PIONEER: Predator sweetens bid
----------------------------------------
McCafferty's Express Coachlines is set to sweeten its deal
to take embattled coachline Greyhound Pioneer off the hands
of creditors.

On 30 July 2000, McCafferty's lawyer Andy Hewlett of
Hewlett and Company said the new deal would contain details
of a deed of company agreement in which McCafferty's would
offer a cents-on-the-dollar payout deal for creditors.
Greyhound creditors are expected to vote on the deal in
late August 2000.

Meanwhile, Premier Coach Service is not ruling itself out
of the running. Premier chief John King says it has made a
revised bid for the coachline after its first bid was
rejected. He says a third bid could be forthcoming.  (The
Courier Mail 31- July-2000)

LIBERTYONE: Double blow for Liberty
-----------------------------------
Internet firm LibertyOne was yesterday hit by the
resignation of one-time chief operating officer Tim Burgess
and the voluntary liquidation of Hong Kong-based Chinese
Books Superstore, in which it had a large equity stake.

Mr Burgess is the last of the three founders of
LibertyOne's web development and consulting business, Zivo,
to leave LibertyOne; Martin Lindstrom is now a senior
executive at BT LookSmart, and Jeff Lewis is expected to be
joined by Mr Burgess in setting up a new business venture
in Asia.

More than 20 staff have left LibertyOne in the past few
weeks alone.  Among those who have left are founder and
chief executive Graham Bristow, chief financial officer
Jack Surdoval, chief general counsel John MacKay and Zivo
head of creative Jason Davey.

Mr Surdoval, who was principally employed to help
LibertyOne with its now abandoned Nasdaq listing plans,
will stay on in the short term to help the company
negotiate its way through the changes being implemented by
new chief executive Marcelle Anderson.

One of the more unexpected of those changes was yesterday's
collapse of Chinese Books Cyberstore, in which LibertyOne
acquired a 25 per cent stake last September in exchange for
14.5 million LibertyOne shares.  CBC's shares in LibertyOne
have been offloaded gradually.

"The board of CBC decided that there were insufficient
funds available to continue to operate the business and
therefore they have recommended the appointment of a
provisional liquidator," a spokesman for LibertyOne said
yesterday.  "There are assets in the business, but it is
too early to say whether LibertyOne will receive a return
from the liquidation process."

Founded in 1997, CBC sells Chinese language books, CDs and
DVDs in mainland China through the portals chinesebooks.net
and cbcmusic.net.  The spokesman would not discuss what
options were considered for CBC before the liquidator was
brought in.

"While Chinese Books was a strategic investment and not a
core LibertyOne business, naturally we are not satisfied
with what has happened. However, our major core businesses
remain unaffected," the spokesman said.

It is understood the new strategy of LibertyOne's
management, led by chairman Nick Whitlam and Ms Anderson,
is to shed the entrepreneurial image driven by Mr Bristow,
reduce cash burn and focus on management fundamentals.
Because it floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1998
the company is not required to issue quarterly cash-flow
statements, as many other dotcoms have done in the past
week. LibertyOne shares fell 2c to 22c yesterday. (The
Australian  03-Aug-2000)

MITSUBISHI ADELAIDE: Car plant posts $130m loss
-----------------------------------------------
Mitsubishi Adelaide will post another loss this year after
its record-breaking $130 million plunge into the red in
1999.

But new managing director, Mr Tom Phillips said the
unflattering result would not impact on the company's long-
term future as a manufacturer.  This is despite warnings
from its parent group in Japan to profit or close.
Mitsubishi's losses escalated over $100 million mainly due
to redundancy packages caused by a major restructure.
(Border Mail Online  02-Aug-2000)

ONE.TEL: $300M a year loser
---------------------------
The Packer and Murdoch backed telephone group One.Tel
warned that it would lose about $300 million in the year to
June 30 - and the losses are expected to be about the same
for this financial year because of start-up costs in Europe
and Australia.

One.Tel said losses before interest and tax would reach
$297 million for 1999-2000, which will push the bottom-line
loss over $300 million.

"We would expect it [the loss] to be of a similar magnitude
next year," said One.Tel joint managing director Mr Bradley
Keeling.

One.Tel, he said, was still in good financial shape since,
even with the loss, it had about $300 million in cash, low
debt levels with borrowings of just over $100 million, and
an unused $1.1 billion debt facility.  One.Tel's shares
shrugged off news of the loss, rising 0.08c to $1.078,
although they are down from $2.40 at the start of the year.
One.Tel said it would double revenue in 1999-00 from last
year's $325 million.

Mr Keeling said One.Tel would continue to spend more money
than it received because of its geographic expansion and
infrastructure investment in mobiles and high speed
Internet access through digital subscriber lines (DSL)
technology.

"We would put it [the cashflow deficit] at about $10-$15
million on average a month and it is sliding downwards," he
said.

About $80 million in losses for 1999-2000 were associated
with the set-up costs of its local mobile network and long-
distance call operations in Europe and Asia, while $12
million went on its European mobile resale and Internet
businesses.

Another $110 million is related to the write-off of
advertising spending, a result of an accounting change
One.Tel made following discussions with the Australian
Securities and Investment Commission.  One.Tel also said it
made the accounting change because of its plan to seek a
listing in London, planned for later this year.

Further losses were incurred by debt write-offs, Mr Keeling
said, with bad debts totalling a "few million dollars."

Telecom analysts said there was concern about One.Tel's bad
debt, as the company targeted the youth market, which
traditionally has a higher bad-debt record than other
demographic groups.

One.Tel's customer churn rate runs at 2 per cent a month,
which means that almost a quarter of its customers switch
telephone companies each year.  (Sydney Morning Herald  02-
August-2000)

PACIFIC DUNLOP: Unit sale keeps revamp plans on track
-----------------------------------------------------
Pacific Dunlop's restructure is going to plan. The sale of
its electrical distribution business for $343 million and
Exide confirms it expects to own PacDun's GNB Technologies
by the end of September.

PacDun announced yesterday that acquisitive Dutch equipment
distributor Hagemeyer had handed it a profit of $145
million on the sale.  The price was better than expected.
Most analysts tipped PacDun would get about $300 million.
Hagemeyer has been snapping up distribution businesses
globally and its PacDun purchase adds to recent
acquisitions in the UK and US.

PacDun managing director Rod Chadwick said the sale was
pleasing and "the proceeds, together with those from GNB
when its sale is successfully completed, will form the
basis of a restructure of the company's capital base".
PacDun's chance of pulling off the double appeared
promising yesterday when Exide chief executive Robert Lutz
said the $630 million deal was "on schedule."

Announcing a $US9.4 million loss for its first quarter
2000-01 Mr Lutz said: "Financing, currently being arranged,
is expected to be sourced through an extension of the
company's existing credit facilities and the securitisation
of certain receivables."

Exide has gearing levels approaching 900 per cent and has
about 35 bankers involved in keeping it afloat.
PacDun will own 18 per cent per cent of Exide if the GNB
sale goes through. Mr Lutz said its disappointing
performance in the North American industrial battery market
would be helped by the GNB purchase, and the opportunity to
hasten rationalisation.

Australian companies Crane Group and Howard Smith were
involved in final bidding for PacDun's electrical
distribution business. Howard Smith was believed to be the
closest to the $343 paid by Hagemeyer.  Incoming Howard
Smith managing director Ian Tsicalas said it was
disappointing not to have won the business but he was
"happy not to have paid that price."

PacDun has said it will repay debt with the $970 million it
will get from the sales and will consider a capital return
to shareholders.  PacDun shares closed down 3c at $1.56
yesterday. (The Australian  02-Aug-2000)

SATELLITE GROUP: ASIC extends probe to loans
--------------------------------------------
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has
widened its investigation into the Satellite Group,
focusing on loans made by Satellite to its founder and
former chief executive, Mr Greg Fisher, and companies
associated with him as well as the payment of Mr Fisher's
credit card debts totalling in excess of $700,000, the
Supreme Court was told yesterday.

Mr Anthony Spencer, for ASIC, told the court that ASIC was
seeking documents relating to $500,000 invested by
Satellite in Sydney Skytours and other companies. He said
they appeared to be related party transactions for which no
proper board authorisation appeared to have been obtained.

ASIC is seeking to appoint a receiver to the Satellite
Group, a move that is being resisted by the company and Mr
Fisher. The receivership issue will be determined at a
hearing set down for the end of this month.

"At the very least they are related party transactions for
which no prior approval was obtained", Mr Spencer said. The
transactions could "potentially be a conversion of funds",
he said, and that could total more than $500,000.

Funds were also extended to Sojo (NSW) Pty Ltd, and MJS, an
investment vehicle for a Mr Sharp, and Mojava Pty Ltd.
ASIC records show Sojo to be a company associated with Mr
and Mrs Jonathan Broster. ASIC is also seeking documents
relating to companies controlled by Mrs Suzanna Broster,
who has an interest in Bentam Investments.

ASIC is seeking documents relating to property developments
in Rose Bay and Terrigal. Both Mrs Broster and Mr Broster
as well as Mr Fisher had guaranteed second mortgages on one
of the developments and, because Satellite "had tipped in
money", it was less likely that the Fisher and Broster
guarantees would be called in, Mr Spencer said.

He also said there was an issue of whether Mr Broster could
act as an officer of a company and whether Mrs Broster was
acting on his behalf because he was discharged from
bankruptcy in March last year. This was later corrected by
Mrs Broster's lawyer to a discharge in 1996.

Mr Spencer said that "there will be an argument whether Mr
Broster is an officer of the corporation but there is a
significant amount of material to show that Mr Broster has
been using his position in the company to obtain an
advantage for himself or the family companies".

Justice Paddy Bergin told Mr Spencer that ASIC must set
down on paper exactly what the ASIC allegations were, and
which sections of the corporations law it said the parties
had breached so that the defendants could file affidavits
in reply ahead of the August 28 hearing.

Mr Spencer said he would prefer to do this down the track
"because the investigation has not been going for long".
Both Mr Fisher and Mr Broster have previously given
undertakings that they would not deal in a number of
assets, including cars, a boat and some property, pending
the receivership hearing. (Sydney Morning Herald  02-Aug-
2000)


==============================
C H I N A  &  H O N G  K O N G
==============================

CHINA TELECOM: Plans to discharge 200,000 staff
-----------------------------------------------
At least 200,000 employees of China Telecom face losing
their jobs in the next five years as the country's largest
fixed-line operator moves to reduce its operating costs.
The plan will involve the biggest ever series of layoffs in
the profitable telecom sector.

However, only 11 of the company's 31 branches are
profitable, said Zhou Deqiang, president of China Telecom.
Market analysts said that it is necessary for China Telecom
to slim its workforce. The newly created firm took in most
of the redundant employees from the former monopoly China
Telecom, which operated mobile communications, paging
services and satellite communications.

The move aims to slash operation costs and promote service
efficiency. China Telecom has a large employee pool of
530,000.  The employment downsizing is one of the key
reforms initiated by the new China Telecom, which was
inaugurated in May this year after a central government-
orchestrated split of the telecom monopoly into four
independent companies.

Experts said such a large programme of layoffs would pose
greater pressures for China Telecom and would be difficult
for the company to initiate. The telecom sector is widely
regarded as one of the most popular places to find a job.
China Telecom's bold decision has fully demonstrated the
company's confidence to rebuild its image and become
profitable as soon as possible.

Unskilled workers will be the first to lose jobs. In
another effort to increase the company's business revenues,
China Telecom recently announced its proposal to raise the
local phone price from the current 0.18 yuan (US$0.02) per
three minutes to 1.0 yuan per minute (US$0.12). This means
the local phone charge will increase by more than 66 per
cent from the current level.

"The proposed local phone adjustment is based on the
practical costs, and it also complies with the
international level," Zhou explained.

The announcement, however, has stimulated a round of
criticism from consumers and social experts.  At present,
China's telecom operators still overcharge the installation
fee for fixed lines and network access fee for mobile phone
communications.

China Telecom's official said that the installation fee,
which is currently around 1,500 yuan (US$180) per new
phone, will be gradually abolished. But the price counting
method cannot be changed from per minute to per second.
China Telecom's proposal of a price increase awaits a
hearing by the State Planning Development Commission.
Insiders revealed the company's next major target is to
gain a licence for mobile communication services from the
Government. (China Daily  03-Aug-2000)

DAIRY FARM INT'L HLDGS: Posts 6-month loss
------------------------------------------
Despite a 3% growth in sales to US$2.93B, supermarket and
drug store operator, Dairy Farm International Holdings
posted a US$51M net loss for the six months to June 30 on
the back of poor performances by its supermarket units in
Hong Kong and Australia.

The interim loss compares with a US$33M profit recorded a
year ago.  Dairy Farm in May had said it expected to lose
US$50M in the first half because profit margins at its
Wellcome supermarket chain in Hong Kong was hit by a fierce
price war with another retailer while sales at its
Franklins supermarket chain in Australia had fallen.

The chairman of Dairy Farm Simon Keswick said that in the
medium term there would be continued pressure on margins
and expenses, together with sluggish sales growth, due to
the expansion of food retail space over recent years.
Dairy Farm will not pay an interim dividend for the first
time, having paid out 1.65 US cents last year.

GUANGDONG INT'L TRUST: Auctions off assets
------------------------------------------
To repay the huge debts owed by the bankrupt Guangdong
International Trust and Investment Corporation (GITIC),
three of its assets have been brought under the hammer
since last Friday.

The public auctions in Guangzhou and Shenzhen brought in a
total of 114 million yuan (US$13.7 million), far below the
target of 300 million to 400 million yuan (US$36 million to
US$48 million) that the corporation and the courts dealing
with its liquidation hope to be able to pool before
October.

The corporation plans to make its first repayments to its
240 domestic and foreign creditors from Hong Kong, Macao,
the United States, Japan, Thailand and Australia in
October. The three assets that were auctioned were
corporate shares in Guangdong Power, Wanjiale Electric
Appliance, and Xingfu Enterprise.

The shares were all bought by domestic institutional buyers
outside Guangdong at prices above the minimum set by the
corporation. Reluctant to list the assets that are to be
auctioned in the coming months, an official with the GITIC
Clearing Group said bidders will be informed about the next
auction in local newspapers.

He denied the report that shares in GITIC McDonald's will
also be auctioned. GITIC holds a franchise to run
McDonald's in most cities in Guangdong except Shenzhen and
has built 37 restaurants to date. Once Guangdong's biggest
non-banking financial company and one of China's largest
firms allowed to float bonds aboard, GITIC shocked the
world early in 1999 when it applied for bankruptcy.

It was found then to have accumulated debts of 36.16
billion yuan (US$4.36 billion) while having assets of only
21.47 billion yuan (US$2.59 billion).  The Guangdong
Provincial Higher Court, the Guangzhou Intermediate Court
and the Shenzhen Intermediate Court are working together on
the case.

Li Guoguang, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court,
noted on June 30 that the GITIC case had been conducted in
line with international practices and in an open and fair
way in dealing with the heavy debts.  After the liquidation
of the corporation, the courts turned their attention in
March to collecting the nearly 20 billion yuan (US$2.4
billion) of debts owed to GITIC, 95 per cent of which were
loans given out to borrowers within the province.

This debt-collection campaign, which is expected to be
completed by the end of September, mainly targets the 422
debtors in the 21 prefectures of Guangdong, which include
both enterprises and governmental departments. (China Daily
03-Aug-2000)

JARDINE INT'L MOTOR HLDGS: Posts loss with British ops
------------------------------------------------------
Jardine International Motor Holdings, a Hong Kong-based car
retailer being taken private by Jardine Matheson Holdings,
had problems with its British operations, Jardine Motor
posting a one-time loss of US$4.8M from its UK business,
its earnings per share fell to 3.93US cents from the
previous 5.25 US cents.

Overall, the company announced a 25% drop in profit to
US$18.8M on a 4% decrease in turnover to US$1.4B in the
first half because of problems at its British dealerships.

Jardine Matheson gave troubles in Britain as one of the
reasons it is offering to buy all the shares in Jardine
Motor it doesn't already own.  Jardine Motor is also set to
lose its Hong Kong wholesale franchise for Mercedes Benz
cars to its maker, Daimler Chrysler AG.  No interim
dividend was recommended by the board of directors compared
with 1.2 US cents paid a year ago.

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK: To cut 14% of its employees
----------------------------------------------------
Standard Chartered plans to cut 5,000 jobs from its
worldwide payroll - or 14 per cent of its 35,000 staff - in
the next two years.

The group has targeted 6,000 job losses, but new call
centres for shared processing will be established, creating
1,000 new jobs, said Mervyn Davies, group executive
director for Hong Kong, China and North East Asia.
Another 1,000 staff at Grindlays in India and the Middle
East had taken voluntary redundancy packages, he said,
leaving net job losses anticipated globally at 4,000.

"Since we have double-digit turnover in Hong Kong as people
retire or resign, natural attrition is likely to take care
of most of the restructuring needs," he said.

The change had arisen from changes enabled by the Internet
and e-banking.  Mr Davies said the locations for the new
centralised call centres had yet to be finalised and it was
not possible to provide a breakdown of where the biggest
job losses might arise. Hong Kong, with 80 branches and
4,700 employees, was the third-biggest employment location
for the group (behind Africa, with a workforce of 5,559).
The 13,498 in Asia represented just under half of total
headcount. (South China Morning Post  03-Aug-2000)


=================
I N D O N E S I A
=================

BANK CENTRIS: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK DEKA: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK ISTIMARAT: IBRA to take legal action soon
BANK PELITA: IBRA to take legal action soon
----------------------------------------------
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency said it will act
tougher with uncooperative debtors as part of efforts to
accelerate asset recovery, IMF senior deputy resident
representative and chief economist Joshua Felman said.

"Among the objectives of the present letter of intent is to
get tougher on recalcitrant debtors," Felman said after the
signing.

The letter of intent said the government recognises that
the asset recovery targets require strong action be taken
against all non-cooperative debtors and shareholders.

"Toward this end, the inter-ministerial committee for
resolving the cases of recalcitrant debtors was established
on July 17," it said.

It said the committee will decide a coordinated strategy
for all IBRA's assets, and imposing administrative
sanctions (such as travel bans and disbarment from
directorships).  It said IBRA is undertaking a
comprehensive review of its legal powers, and related legal
actions are planned to be taken including continued legal
action against non-cooperating shareholders from four banks
closed in 1998. Bank Pelita, Bank Deka, Bank Centris and
Bank Istimarat, have not reached agreement with IBRA.

"The cases will be brought to court during August," it
said.

It also said shareholders of the 1999 closed banks who fail
to complete negotiations by September will be referred to
the Attorney General, who will take legal action by
October.  The IBRA will by September take legal actions
against those shareholders who have not complied with their
master settlement agreement and acquisition.

"Additional actions will be promptly taken in all cases
where shareholders fail to complete their asset transfers
consistent with their agreements.

It said so far IBRA has filed legal actions against 16 non
cooperative borrowers with total debt of over 6 trln
rupiah, out of about 340 companies belonging to the top 21
obligors.  (AFX News 31- July-2000)

PT TEXAMACO JAYA: Cumulative losses reach Rp272.8B
--------------------------------------------------
PT Texmaco Jaya, a subsidiary of the Texmaco Group,
reported net losses of Rp186.64bn, or Rp518.50 per share,
in 1999.

The company had by then suffered three years of loss since
`97, cumulatively amounting to Rp272.8bn.  In `98, Texmaco
suffered net losses of Rp24.63bn, while in `97 losses were
recorded at Rp61.53bn.  Since '99, the company's condition
has continued to worsen.

From December 1999 financial reports, as published in some
newspapers, the operating losses were Rp155.04bn in 1999,
whereas the firm still managed to book Rp2,205.26bn
operating profits in the year earlier.  Total sales dropped
41.48% to Rp878.64bn in 1999, down from Rp1, 501.37bn in
the previous year.

On the other hand, the cost of goods sold was down
slightly, by 20.82% to Rp893.60bn, compared with Rp1,
128.53bn in 1998. Operational costs fell 16.41% to
Rp140.08bn, bringing the operating ratio to a level of
117.65%, with the operating margin at a negative 17.65%,
and the gross profit margin at a negative 1.70% in 1999.

Total liabilities reached Rp1, 342.42bn by the end of `99,
representing an increase of 9.82% when compared to Rp1,
222.43bn in the same period the year before.  The company's
capital structure has been very fragile since its large
liabilities were made worse by a capital deficiency of
Rp30.32bn. (IndoExchange 31-July-2000)


=========
J A P A N
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SAKURA DELLSHER: ABN AMRO to assume futures-clearing biz
--------------------------------------------------------
ABN AMRO Inc. will assume the financial futures and options
clearing business of Sakura Dellsher Inc., a Chicago-based
subsidiary of Japan's Sakura Bank, in mid-August, the two
companies said Tuesday.

The futures division of AAI, affiliated with ABN AMRO Bank
NV of the Netherlands, will conduct futures transactions on
behalf of the major Japanese city bank and other customers
of SDI, they said. SDI's sale is part of Sakura's
restructuring efforts prior to its planned merger with
Sumitomo Bank next April.

An SDI official told Jiji Press that its energy-related
business will be acquired by another company and SDI will
be liquidated by the end of this year.  Most of SDI's
employees at its futures division will be hired by
the Dutch bank, the official said.

SDI was established in 1993 through an acquisition by
Sakura of Dellsher Investment Co., a futures commission
merchant founded in 1965 by Leo Melamed, who is recognized
as a pioneer of financial futures and is chairman emeritus
and senior policy adviser to the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange. (Jiji Press English News Service  02-Aug-2000)

SHINSEI BANK: 2B yen advisory fees to be returned
-------------------------------------------------
In response to public criticism and pressure from the
Japanese government, Shinsei Bank, formerly the
nationalized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, announced
Wednesday that two U.S. consulting firms with links to
members of its board will return 2.1 billion yen the bank
had paid them as advisory fees.

Shinsei Bank decided that members of its parent company --
the international consortium New LTCB Partners CV -- will
instead foot the 2.1 billion yen.  Ripplewood Holdings
Management LLC and JCF Management LLC received 1.05 billion
yen each in March for their advice on the investors'
negotiations with the government over the sale of the
failed LTCB.

But the deal came under growing public criticism because
Shinsei's predecessor -- the LTCB -- had received a total
of 3.6 trillion yen in injections of public funds to
replenish its capital base, and also because the two
consulting firms are closely linked to the bank's current
directors.

Ripplewood Holdings Management is effectively owned by
Shinsei Bank director Timothy Collins, and JCF Management
is controlled by another Shinsei director, Christopher
Flowers.  A Shinsei Bank spokesman said the latest decision
was made in response to public criticism of the deal, but
defended the agreement as legitimate, saying such practices
are common in western countries.

The spokesman also said the bank does not plan to review
another deal in which the bank paid New LTCB BV, the
Netherlands-based parent company of New LTCB Partners, 2.69
billion yen for legal and accounting work related to the
purchase of the bank.  In addition, the bank said it has no
plans to review a total of 120 million yen it has paid to
Ripplewood Holdings Management and JCF Management for their
management advice following the bank's transfer to the
ownership of the international consortium, nor the 820
million yen it has spent to contract the two firms to pay
for their advice in the future.

In total, the bank has concluded contracts worth 5.7
billion yen with the three firms.  The LTCB, which was put
under state control in 1998, was bought by New LTCB
Partners, a consortium led by U.S. investing firm
Ripplewood Holdings LLC.

Financial Reconstruction Commission Chairman Hideyuki
Aizawa, speaking before the House of Representatives Budget
Committee, also said the 2.1 billion yen will be returned
to Shinsei Bank.  Aizawa said the bank "voluntarily"
reached the decision after the FRC asked it to review the
legitimacy of the lavish fees paid by a bank that received
public funds to replenish its capital base. (Japan Times
Online  03-Aug-2000)

SOGO CO.: Chairman's personal assets frozen
-------------------------------------------
The Industrial Bank of Japan has frozen the personal assets
of former Sogo Co Ltd chairman Hiroo Mizushima after the
Tokyo District Court approved IBJ's application for the
move, a court official said.

"We have accepted the application from the Industrial Bank
of Japan," the official, who declined to be named, told
Agence France Presse.  "Based on the application, his
assets have been frozen."

The bank earlier said Mizushima, who stepped down as
chairman on April 26, has to personally pay 11 bln yen of a
13.6 bln loan Sogo took out to build an outlet in Tokyo's
Sumida Ward. Separately, lawmakers from the lower house's
budget committee today agreed to summon Mizushima for
questioning tomorrow over the Sogo collapse, parliament
officials said.  (AFX News Limited  02-August-2000)


=========
K O R E A
=========

HYUNDAI GROUP: Creditors threaten financial reprisals
-----------------------------------------------------
In a move to intensify pressure on Hyundai Business Group's
stalemated restructuring, the creditor group has decided
that if Hyundai fails to produce a strong self-rescue plan,
the group will have to sign a commitment to improve its
financial status.

Creditors of the group have demanded that: Hyundai's
founder Chung Ju-yung and his two sons step down from
managerial posts; Hyundai Motor be spun off from the group;
and top Hyundai officials responsible for poor management
retire. The creditors and Hyundai had signed a letter of
commitment earlier, which expired at the end of last year,
and a new commitment from the group regarding restructuring
will enable the creditor banks to take sterner measures
against the group, including calling back maturing loans
and cutting off new loans.

In a separate move, creditors Wednesday warned the group
that if it slackens in its efforts to live up to market
expectations, they may call back loans.  Meanwhile Hyundai
announced that it will submit a spin-off plan to the state
Fair Trade Commission (FTC) proposing that Hyundai founder
Chung Ju-yung will not execute his rights entailing the
possession of 6.1% of Hyundai Motor's equity.

The FTC has been demanding that Chung lower his 9.1% stake
of the motor unit to below 3%, and Hyundai's new plan seems
to abide by FTC demands. (Digital Chosun  02-Aug-2000)


===============
M A L A Y S I A
===============

ORIENTAL BANK BHD: S'holders seek more value in merger
------------------------------------------------------
Oriental Bank Bhd's minority shareholders are seeking a
higher value for their shares in the bank under its current
merger exercise with EON Bank Bhd, and have turned to the
authorities for help.

They are appealing to the Finance Ministry and Bank Negara
to intervene in getting a fair value for their investment
in Oriental Bank. These minority shareholders are mostly
employees or ex-staff of the bank, who have bought the
shares under the bank's employees' share option scheme.

A committee has been set up by a group of former employees
of the bank who are also its shareholders, to look into the
matter and will consider taking legal action if EON Bank do
not review its offer. TheEdge.Com.my had reported that EON
Bank had offered 32 sen for each share held by the Oriental
Bank employees. The staff had bought the shares at RM1.30
each when the stock option was offered to them in 1996.

"We handed over copies of the letters to the authorities
last Friday, asking them to look into our plight," a member
of the committee told TheEdge.Com.my. He has over 120,000
shares in Oriental Bank, which were bought under the share
option scheme. "We expressed our concern that our (Oriental
Bank) shares would be grossly undervalued in the merger
exercise."

It is learned that Oriental Bank's employees had exercised
the option to buy some 23 million shares. Being an unlisted
bank, they are unable to cash out their investment.
According to the former staff, his shares were financed
mainly through bank loans.

Oriental Bank is a 75.17 per cent owned subsidiary of
listed Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd and has
64 branches across the country. According to the results
released, the bank posted a pre-tax loss of RM315 million
for the nine months ended Dec 31, 1999.

EON Bank had on June 30 entered into a conditional sale and
purchase agreement for the proposed acquisition of Oriental
Bank's business. However, the valuation was not disclosed.
(The Edge  03-Aug-2000)

PARK MAY BHD: Proposes to reduce debts
--------------------------------------
As part of bus service operator Park May Bhd's debt-
restructuring scheme, managing director Mohamad Fakhri says
the company intends to dispose of some assets, including
buses and property, to raise funds to reduce borrowings.

Fakhri said the company, which had already sold RM8mil
worth of property, would disclose details of the disposal
plan after its board of directors had finalised it.
The company's proposed debt restructuring exercise
involving a 20% reduction of its existing paid-up capital
from RM45mil to RM36mil, conversion of 20% of its
outstanding bank loans into rights to provisional allotment
of shares and 80% into redeemable convertible bonds was
passed by shareholders at an EGM yesterday.

An offer of sale of the financial institutions' rights to
provisional allotment of shares to existing shareholders is
also part of the scheme.  The restructuring exercise is
expected to result in interest savings of some RM2.7mil per
annum for the financial year ending June 2001.

Park May had announced that its major shareholder, Renong
Bhd, would fully subscribe for the shares offered by its
bank creditors--Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd, Commerce
International Merchant Bankers Bhd, Multi-Purpose Bank Bhd,
Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd and PhileoAllied Bank
(M) Bhd. (The Star  03-Aug-2000)


=====================
P H I L I P P I N E S
=====================

C&P HOMES INC: Aiming for debt-rehab deal by October
----------------------------------------------------
C&P Homes Inc hopes to forge a restructuring deal with its
creditors for its 7.8 bln pesos debt by September or
October, chief executive officer Sulficio Tagud Jr said.

Tagud said creditors have looked at C&P Homes' debt
restructuring proposal and are planning to commission the
services of PriceWaterhouse Coopers to look at its
financial projections.  C&P Homes plans to convert 3.0 bln
pesos of its debt into equity. The remaining 4.8 bln pesos
will be restructured over seven years with interest rates
gradually rising upon maturity.

Its debts are mostly in the form of floating rate treasury
notes worth 150 mln usd, held mostly by foreign investors.
Of the 7.8 bln pesos, 6.3 bln were owed to foreign
creditors and the other to 1.5 bln pesos local sources.

Tagud said the company met with creditors on Thursday who
said the terms were "workable". Another meeting with the
creditors is scheduled on the first week of September.
Tagud said that the company was able to trim its debts to
7.8 bln pesos at end-June from 11 bln pesos in 1999 through
'dacion en pago' or payment-in-kind arrangements. C&P Homes
closed unchanged at 0.19 pesos.  (AFX News Limited  02-
August-2000)

C&P HOMES: Creditors agree to loan restructuring
------------------------------------------------
The creditors of housing developer C&P Homes have finally
accepted the terms of the loan restructuring for its P7.8-
billion debt that include converting part of it into equity
and extension of the maturity of the remaining amount for
another seven years, C&P chairman and CEO Sulficio Tagud
Jr. revealed recently.

"We had a creditors meeting last Thursday and they find the
terms workable," he said. "What they are looking at now is
the appointment of an auditor that would pass judgment into
our financial projections."

The creditors will commission the services of auditing firm
Price Waterhouse to do this.  Among the terms discussed is
the conversion of P3 billion in debt into equity with the
remaining P4.8 billion to be restructured over seven years
with escalating interest rates. For local debts, interest
rates will be at 5.5 percent to go up to eight percent
after seven years. For foreign debts, the interest rate
would be 4.25 percent and rising to six percent.

C&P Homes, majority of which is controlled by Speaker Manny
Villar with a 68-percent equity, expects to forge a deal
with creditors by September or October. Another meeting
with creditors is scheduled on the first week of September.
Price Waterhouse will be given three to four weeks to
evaluate C&P's financial projections.

Since last year, C&P has been aggressively trimming its
debts. From P11 billion as of end-1999, is loans have gone
down to P7.8 billion as of end-June this year. Payment was
done through dacion en pago, that is, by giving up
properties, including developed house and lots and raw
lands, as well as conversion into equity.

Its debts are mostly in the form of floating rate treasury
notes worth $150 million held mostly by foreign investors
and long-term commercial papers of around P3 billion. Tagud
said that of its remaining P7.8 billion debt, P6.3 billion
is owed to foreign creditors and the balance of P1.5
billion to local lenders.

As of the first quarter, C&P's total capital stood at P7.1
billion while its land bank was valued at P20.8 billion.
Even though the company has been losings money due to the
financial crisis and high interest payments, it was able to
post a P340 million net income as of the first quarter, a
sharp reversal of its P2.6 billion net loss for the whole
year of 1999. Tagud said the losses incurred last year were
due to P1.7 billion in interest payments and P940 million
debts written-off.

"We are starting to recover this year," he said. "The only
thing that is weighing us down is the high interest
payments."  (Philippine Star  03-Aug-2000)

JADE BANK: BSP checks allegations of irregularities
---------------------------------------------------
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is "validating"
reports that Binondo-based Jade Bank is involved in some
irregular transactions.

BSP Deputy Governor Alberto V. Reyes said the BSP has
received some anonymous reports and letters about the
alleged irregular transactions. Reyes suspects that the
letters may be coming from disgruntled stockholders of the
bank. He also noted that the same reports have been sent to
some media organizations. He said the BSP is now
"validating" such reports.

Reyes said that as far as the 1999 audit is concerned, Jade
Bank does not have any financial problem and is financially
sound. The BSP deputy governor also denied that it has
given any financial aid or assistance to Jade Bank. Jade
last April and May had been the target of rumors that it
would soon follow in the footsteps of Urban Bank which had
suddenly closed April 26 due to problems that started with
its investment house.

At the time, Jade Bank and a few other small banks were hit
by mild bank runs. Jade Bank reportedly had requested
financial assistance from the BSP then. As of yesterday,
Reyes said the BSP had not received any request for
financial assistance from Jade Bank.

Reyes said that the Jade Bank issue will not unduly affect
the banking system as it is a relatively small thrift bank
with only five branches and a capitalization of just P300
million. Its total deposits, Reyes said, is around P280
million.

Reports circulating in the market is that a group of
borrowers is poised to file estafa charges against the
management of Jade Bank. The same reports claim that hold
departure orders have been issued against the bank
officials.  Reyes denied such hold-departure orders.
(Philippine Star  03-Aug-2000)

NATIONAL ELECTRIF.ADMIN.: Granted two-year debt relief
------------------------------------------------------
The National Government, through the Department of Finance,
has granted the National Electrification Administration
(NEA) a two-year debt relief for the payment of a portion
of foreign loans amounting to 1.7 billion Philippine pesos
(PhP) (US$0.037 billion at PhP44.788=$1).

NEA administrator Conrado CB. Estrella III told reporters
yesterday that the NEA initially sought a five-year debt
restructuring program from the DoF starting this year.
As a result of the debt relief program, the DoF will pay
the NEA's loans to lending agencies World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the next two years.
As a government agency, the DoF issues sovereign guarantees
for loans.

Mr. Estrella said the NEA was only granted the two-year
period because of the government's other financial
obligations.  "Instead of entering into another loan
agreement with foreign financial institutions, we asked the
government for debt relief. Another foreign loan will mean
we will have to face more risks because this will again be
dollar-denominated loans. Getting debt relief will address
our financial problems, at the same time we can go to a
rehabilitation program for electric cooperatives," Mr.
Estrella said.

The NEA chief said debt relief will allow the agency to
rechannel collections from the amortization payments of
electric cooperatives. The NEA extends loans to electric
cooperatives to help them in their respective operations.
This year alone, the NEA is supposed to pay about PhP1.3
billion ($0.029 billion) in dollar-denominated loans.

Collections for the year, however, are only expected to hit
PhP1.2 billion ($0.026 billion).  With debt relief expected
to be implemented in the last quarter of the year, Mr.
Estrella said NEA collections may be directed to other
areas, particularly the development of a massive
rehabilitation program that will improve the systems
reliability of the 119 electric cooperatives nationwide.

This in turn will result in improved collections from
electric cooperatives in the future.  Mr. Estrella added
that NEA is also on the process of downsizing its manpower
by developing an early retirement program for its
employees.  (Business World 03-Aug-2000)


=================
S I N G A P O R E
=================

PACIFIC INVEST.HLDGS.: Shares issue for debt bail-out
-----------------------------------------------------
Debt-ridden Pacific Can Investment Holdings (Pac Can) will
emerge from judicial management four to six weeks after it
obtains shareholder approval for an issue of new shares.

An extraordinary general meeting for this purpose has been
convened for tomorrow.  The share issue is part of a bail-
out scheme to pay off some $24 million of debt to put the
troubled construction and can-making company back on its
feet after it went under judicial management last
September.

"It's a very complex process and Wednesday's EGM is the
last of several approvals that need to be obtained for the
deal to go through," Mr Andrew Grimmett, director for
corporate finance at Arthur Andersen, the judicial
managers, told The Straits Times yesterday. "Seatown
Construction and other investors will inject about $31
million into the company, about $24 million of which will
be used to pay off creditors in full."

The balance of $7 million will be used for working capital
to fund the company's operations.  In exchange, Pac Can
will issue 755.9 million new ordinary shares to Seatown and
Pyramid Construction Engineering. Another 310 million new
shares will be placed out.

"Initially the existing shareholders of Pac Can will have
their holdings diluted to approximately 8 per cent," said
Mr Grimmett. "About 90 per cent of the enlarged capital
will be held by a wide group of shareholders, with Seatown
and Pyramid together becoming the majority shareholders."

Thereafter, the company's primary business will be
construction-related. It will also seek shareholder
approval to change its name to Seatown.

"There's a lot of paperwork to be done -we would also have
to ensure that shares are issued, apply to the court to get
judicial management lifted and we will need to apply to the
Singapore Exchange for the shares to be relisted."  (The
Straits Times  01-Aug-2000)

SINGAPORE UNIT TRUSTS: Loss-maker to be sold
--------------------------------------------
Amanah Asset Holding Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Amanah Capital Partners Bhd, has announced its proposed
disposal of the entire interest in Singapore Unit Trusts
Ltd (SUTL) for S$1.264mil (RM2.907mil).

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it had
signed a sale and purchase agreement with PNB International
Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd,
on Monday.  SUTL, incorporated in Singapore on Aug 17, 1959
to manage unit trust funds in the republic, has an issued
and paid-up capital of S$4.3mil.

As at Dec 31, 1999, its net tangible asset stood at
RM2.965mil but it had incurred a pre-tax loss of
RM1.451mil. As at June 30, 2000, its NTA was RM2.678mil and
its pre-tax loss stood at RM747,249.

Having been in a loss-making position for the past 10
years, it is unlikely for SUTL to improve on its
performance without involving significant capital
injections, or the involvement of a strategic partner in
the near future due to its small size of funds and very
competitive market in Singapore.

The proposed disposal will allow the ACP group (formerly
South East Asia Development Corp Bhd) to concentrate on
efforts to strengthen its presence in the domestic fund
management and unit trust industry.  Due to SUTL's loss-
making position and the expected exceptional gain from the
disposal of RM4.862mil, the proposed disposal is expected
to have a positive impact on the earnings of the ACP group
for the year ending Dec 31, 2000.

It is to be noted that the gain from the disposal of
RM4.862mil is higher than the total gross proceeds of
RM3.367mil due to the negative carrying value of investment
arising from unrecognised currency translation in prior
years. (The Star  03-Aug-2000)


===============
T H A I L A N D
===============

BANGKOK LAND: Interest payments waived
--------------------------------------
The cabinet yesterday approved a waiver of 20 million baht
in interest payments owed by Bangkok Land to the Government
Savings Bank.

Ministers said the interest due had built up during the
period when the property developer was negotiating with the
bank for a restructuring agreement, and did not reflect any
intent by the borrower to default. The cabinet also
approved an extension until December of the deadline
for Bangkok Land to transfer properties to the GSB under
the debt-restructuring agreement. The previous deadline was
June.

As of March 19, Bangkok Land owed the bank 819 million
baht, borrowed to fund construction of a sports complex.
(Bangkok Post  02-Aug-2000)

SIAM CITY BANK: Facing up to Bt90B in real losses
-------------------------------------------------
Whatever decision Siam City Bank (SCIB) makes about its
future, the nationalised bank can expect to shoulder net
financial losses of at least Bt90 billion, the Bank of
Thailand's governor said.

"If we use the state-run banks' recovery rate standard of
40 per cent of total bad loans to estimate SCIB's damages,
the bank's bad loans should be Bt138 billion and its net
damages apparently should stand at Bt90 billion, since it
has already reserved about Bt30 billion," Chatu Mongol
Sonakul told The Nation.

SCIB's non-performing loans accounted for Bt230 billion, or
90 per cent, of total lending, while good assets totalled
Bt30 billion to Bt70 billion.  Chatu Mongol's latest
estimate comes at a time when financial authorities have
been trying to find a way out for the ailing financial
institution following failed negotiations with US-based
Newbridge Capital.

The Bank of Thailand and related parties have held several
meetings to discuss a number of scenarios. So far, the
central bank has considered four options: selling SCIB's
entire assets, selling some of its good assets, retaining
SCIB as state-owned bank, or shutting it down completely.
Chatu Mongol said he would rather see the bank sold as soon
as possible rather than delay the sale until it is
restructured.

However, the Finance Ministry does not want to sell the
bank if the buyers offer as low a price as Newbridge
Capital did. But it will be difficult for the bank to fetch
a high price, since its good assets amount to only Bt30
billion to Bt70 billion. (This total is equivalent to the
entire assets of Nakornthon Bank, now Standard Chartered
Nakornthon Bank, recently sold to UK-based Standard
Chartered Bank.)

"The central bank wants all related parties to make a final
decision about SCIB's future, and they should accept the
damages which may incur. It's no use waiting any longer, as
we all know how grave the actual damage to the bank is,"
Chatu Mongol said.

On Monday, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Supachai
Pisitvanich said the ministry is likely to hive off SCIB's
bad assets and sell them to the Asset Management
Corporation.  However, AMC president Prapat Srisattayakul
said the AMC was only interested in buying bad loans from
the bank if the proposed bidding price is reasonable enough
that his organisation can avoid future losses.

No dramatic changes will be made to SCIB's management team
at this time, and the Financial Institutions Development
Fund, its largest shareholder, has approved a three-month
term renewal for the bank's president Phaitoon Kijsamrej.
Phaitoon's tenure is due to expire next Wednesday, Chatu
Mongol said. Asked about the pension fund, whose
administrators have shown interest in investing in the
bank, he said it was eligible to purchase stakes in SCIB.
(The Nation  02-Aug-2000)

STANDARD CHARTERED NAKORNTHON BANK: Further staff cuts loom
-----------------------------------------------------------
Standard Chartered Nakornthon Bank (SCNB) is expected to
make further staff cuts in line with plans announced
yesterday by the bank's parent firm, Standard Chartered
Bank, to streamline costs across all sections of its group.

Standard Chartered Bank announced its intention to reduce
staff by up to 6,000 globally. The bank does, however, plan
to hire about 1,000 new employees in areas of increasing
productivity.  SCNB has about 2,000 staff and has,
independently from the parent firm, embarked on an early
retirement program aimed at laying off 5 to 10 percent of
its employees.

Standard Chartered Bank is aiming to establish itself as
the leading emerging-markets bank, particularly in Asia,
and is focusing on the consumer banking business, which is
highly sensitive to customer service.  An analyst at
SEAMICO Securities said that while the cost cuts will
benefit the bank's bottom line in the medium-term, service
levels may come under pressure, hurting its consumer
banking business.

Apart from a controlling stake of 75% in SCNB, Standard
Chartered Bank itself also operates a branch in Bangkok. A
number of staff at the office are also expected to lose
their jobs.

"The staff cuts here will depend on a detailed work
analysis," said the spokesperson for SCNB, who declined to
be named.  "No immediate announcement will be made on staff
cuts in Thailand; however Thailand is a core growth region
for the group. The staff cuts announced by our parent firm
will be felt across all parts of the group."

Yesterday, Standard Chartered, a UK-based bank with most of
its assets in Asia, said it would cut about one fifth of
its 27,000 workforce. The bank operates 570 offices, in 50
countries worldwide.

"To build an appropriate platform for future growth, we
need to combine and centralize processing in low-cost
locations and simplify organizational structure," said the
bank's chairman Patrick Gillam in a press statement, adding
that "the action we are taking now will transform Standard
Chartered and position us firmly as the leading emerging
markets bank."

The lay-off announcements come after strong performance by
the bank. First half pre-tax profit rose 31 percent to œ356
million (21.36 billion baht) as it set aside less money for
problem loans and boosted mortgage lending in Hong Kong.
The economies of its major markets also improved.

The streamlining is expected to help Standard Chartered
reduce costs by about œ70 million next year, and œ170
million annually from 2003, Standard Chartered said. The
staff cuts will cost the firm œ480 million over three years
and the bank has absorbed charges of œ200 million this
year.

On Tuesday the bank announced the closure of a branch in
China due to inadequate business volume. (Business Day,
AFP, Bloomberg  03-Aug-2000)

THAI LUBE BASE: Creditors okay debt plan
----------------------------------------
Creditors of Thai Lube Base have endorsed the company's
$200 million debt restructuring plan and are expected to
formally vote for it on August 11.

Under the plan, bank creditors, led by Chase Manhattan and
Industrial Bank of Japan, agreed to convert $67 million of
debt into equity while shareholders agreed to provide
approximately $67 million in new working capital.
As a result of the restructuring, Thai Lube Base's debt
will be cut to $66 million.

Debt-to-equity conversion also altered the company's
ownership structure. Thaioil's share will be diluted from
38 percent to 10 percent while PTT's stake is boosted from
30 percent to 38 percent. Bank creditors, meanwhile, will
hold a 20-percent stake, with the remainder unchanged.
In addition, creditors also agreed to supply an additional
$24 million to bolster cash flow.

Earlier, creditors rejected the first debt plan in which
Thai Lube Base proposed that debt be reduced to $50 million
in tandem with an undisclosed amount of cash for working
capital from creditors. (Business Day  03-Aug-2000)

THAI PETROCHEM.INDUS.: Court to check more claims
-------------------------------------------------
It will take the Business Rehabilitation Office of the
Central Bankruptcy Court at least a month to examine 326
creditors of Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc (TPI).

Effective Planners, TPI's business rehabilitation planner,
made objections to the loan repayment applications
submitted by the group of creditors. Chalee Ratananondh, a
legal officer at the Business Rehabilitation Office, said
that there were already 363 creditors who had submitted
applications for repayments of loans totalling 180 billion
baht.

Moreover, there were certain foreign currency loans which
were being studied. The related debt amount would be
disclosed in about one week.  However, Mr Chalee said that
at the closure of the submission of loan repayment
applications on June 23, the office had asked for any
objections to be made by July 7.

Only Effective Planners made objections to the applications
submitted by 326 creditors, 80 of which were financial
institutions. He said that the office was examining the
creditors' applications to determine TPI's actual debts, a
process that would take about a month.

He believed that the examination of the applications should
not have an impact on the rehabilitation planning as the
planner could deal with other parts of the plan while
waiting for the results.  In any case, the plan which was
scheduled to be submitted on Aug 23 could be postponed
twice, each time for a month.

A lawyer at Effective Planners declined to disclose the
details of creditors to which the objections were made. He
conceded that the number of creditors that had drawn
objections was rather high in relation to the total.
However, it was necessary to examine the applications to
arrive at the actual amount of TPI's debts, which would be
beneficial to both the debtor and the creditors alike.

The most common issue encountered was that many repayment
applications lacked supporting documents. As a result, the
examination would require the applicants to submit
additional information to verify their claims.  He said
that guarantors of TPI's loans had submitted loan repayment
applications. Effective Planners had objected and had asked
for the claims to be examined.

Legally, guarantors had not yet repaid any loans on behalf
of TPI. As a result, they could not yet be considered as
creditors and should not be entitled to submit their
applications for loan repayment, he said, declining to
disclose their names.

Earlier, during the process of selecting the planner,
Prachai Leophairatana, TPI's chief executive, said that he
and his family members were guarantors of TPI's debts and
had to be held responsible for the loans if TPI failed to
make repayments. As a result, if another party was
appointed as planner and TPI was not able to comply with
the requirements imposed by its creditors, it would
be unfair for the Leophairatana family to shoulder the
burdens.

The lawyer of Effective Planners said that some creditors
had received loan repayments but had still submitted
repayment applications. Most likely, this was to protect
their rights as creditors, but this needed to be checked.
There were also cases before the court, as well as cases
being considered by arbitrators.

Effective Planners also objected to the applications
submitted by such creditors as the courts and arbitrators
had not made decisions. As a result, it was possible that
TPI did not have to repay some of the loans, he said.
(Bangkok Post  02-Aug-2000)


S U B S C R I P T I O N  I N F O R M A T I O N

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