/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCRAP_Public/010216.MBX              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, February 16, 2001, Vol. 4, No. 34

                                Headlines


* A U S T R A L I A *

ECORP LIMITED: Records a $20M Net Loss
QUOKKA SPORTS:  Sacks 3 Employees; Plans Additional 59% Layoff
TELEMEDIA NETWORKS: Share Prices Tumble

* C H I N A  &  H O N G  K O N G *

CHINESE ESTATES: S&P Assigns BB- Corporate Credit Rating
CHINA TELECOM: Refuses to Compensate Users
PACIFIC CENTURY: Fails To Find Buyer
TIANJIN TRUST: Encounters Difficulty in Raising Funds

* I N D O N E S I A *

PLN: Gov't. & Creditors Monitor Developments
SINAR MAS: Management Performance Weak

* J A P A N *

CRAYFISH CO: Litigation-Plagued Firm Restructures Operating Units
KYOEI LIFE: Changes Name to Gibraltar Life Insurance Co.
VICKERS CAPITAL: To Merge With DBS Group

* K O R E A *

DAEWOO MOTOR: General Motors Loses Interest in Bidding
INTERNATIONAL FIRE: FSS To Wrap-Up Due Diligence Work

* M A L A Y S I A *

EPE POWER: Defaults on Interest Payment
TIME ENGINEERING: Shares Fall 3.3 Percent
UNITED ENGINEERING: Tycoon Asks for Creditor Forbearance

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

BAYAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Will Unveil Repayment Plan Next Month
URBAN BANK: Bancommerce Defers Rehabilitation Plans

* S I N G A P O R E *

ASIA PULP: Faces Lawsuits from Banks in Singapore

* T H A I L A N D *

BANGKOK STEEL: Bankruptcy Court Rejects Rehabilitation Petition
CMIC RUANG: Posts Bt227.8 Million Net Loss
TANAYONG: Posts Bt1.4 Billion Net Loss



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

ECORP LIMITED: Records a $20M Net Loss
--------------------------------------
ecorp Limited (ASX: "ECP") remains on track, it says, to achieve
profitability, with a group operating loss before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $16.4 million for the
six months to 31 December 2000 on total group revenue of $40.2
million. Excluding one-off items, the EBITDA loss would have been
$10.5 million -- of which $6.7m was invested in developing and
launching new businesses.

The combined EBITDA loss for the operations of ecorp and its
businesses that were operating as part of the ecorp group for the
entire previous financial year - ninemsn, eBay, Ticketek and
Wizard - was $3.8 million compared to $7.0 million for the
previous corresponding period.

These businesses all experienced strong revenue growth in the six
months to 31 December 2000, compared with the previous
corresponding period, as follows:

      * ninemsn: up 128 per cent
      * eBay: up 207 per cent
      * Wizard: up 225 per cent; and
      * Ticketek: up 29 per cent.

All of these businesses are on track to be profitable and cash
flow positive in FY2002.

Commenting on the company's first half results for the 2001
financial year, the Executive Chairman of ecorp, Mr Daniel Petre,
said he was pleased with the company's result which saw strong
growth by each of the existing businesses, and the launch of a
number of new businesses - Charles Schwab Australia; Monster.com
Australia/New Zealand and Monster.com Asia; and Ticketek Hong
Kong.

"Each of these newly launched operations are based on proven and
profitable business models, and leverages the experience of
leading global partners," Mr Petre said.

"During the first six months of the 2001 financial year we have
continued to focus on building our existing businesses, in
collaboration with our joint venture partners, to ensure that they
remain on track for profitability and that ecorp stays on track to
meet market expectations for our full year results.

"We remain confident in our strategy and execution of our plans."

ecorp's group cash balance was $96.3 million as at 31 December
2000, which will enable the company to fund its existing
businesses to cash flow positive, as well as make new investments,
without requiring additional capital.


QUOKKA SPORTS:  Sacks 3 Employees; Plans Additional 59% Layoff
--------------------------------------------------------------
Quokka Sports, the international sports portal set up by
Australian yachting identity John Bertrand, today announced it
will sack almost three out of five employees to reduce
considerably the cash burn rate by over 65 percent to less than
$US2 million per month starting March 2001, Fairfax I.T. reported
on Tuesday.

By the end of the second quarter of 2001, the company will cut its
369 employee workforce by about 59 percent. Also last November
some 90 employees were cut off after the running the Olympic
website for media group NBC.

Quokka said its technology and publishing platform infrastructure
would begin operating as a separate business unit, providing
managed services for companies creating rich content for the
broadband, interactive and enhanced TV, and wireless platforms.


TELEMEDIA NETWORKS: Share Prices Tumble
----------------------------------------
Telemedia Networks International, a global supplier of
telecommunications solutions and equipment, share prices dived
because of the reported losses.

Chris Jones, Telemedia Networks International, slides from $10 per
share last April to $2 today and its half-year net loss was $3.69
million, according to the Wednesday issue of AAP.

The loss included amortization of goodwill arising from the
purchase of two US businesses in May amounting to just less than
$5 million.

He said it would not be proper for the company now to venture into
mergers and acquisitions with the reported losses.

Revenue rose to $28.7 million from $18.4 million for the six
months to June.

Jones said Telemedia's share price had suffered from the investor
fallout with technology stocks since last April's crash.

He confirmed the company would not be handing out a dividend this
financial year.

"Despite a softening in investor and creditor investment towards
mainstream telecommunications companies and the Internet sector,
Telemedia continues to benefit from opportunities created by the
demand by telcos for enhanced services," Jones said.



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


CHINESE ESTATES: S&P Assigns BB- Corporate Credit Rating
--------------------------------------------------------
Standard & Poor's placed its double-'B'-minus corporate credit
rating on Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. on CreditWatch with
negative implications. The CreditWatch placement follows Chinese
Estates' announcement that it has entered into an agreement to
acquire Gold Horse Ltd. and its commercial properties for HK$397.6
million from Gold Horse's joint owners, Overseas Crown Ltd. and
Nutmeg Point Ventures Inc. Chinese Estates intends to fund the
acquisitions by issuing HK$200 million in convertible bonds and
paying HK$197.5 million in cash. The value of the properties
amounts to HK$688 million, while the principle liability of Gold
Horse includes a mortgage loan of HK$275 million. When the deal is
completed, the consolidated net debt of Chinese Estates will
increase to around HK$3 billion from HK$2.5 billion in 1999. Hong
Kong's Lau family owns all three companies, and controls 50.9% of
Chinese Estates. The transaction is subject to the approval of
Chinese Estates' independent shareholders.

Standard & Poor's is concerned over the extent of intergroup
transactions by the Lau family, and the impact of such
transactions on Chinese Estates' credit profile. Chinese Estates
is experiencing weak operating results, which could be further
exacerbated by this acquisition. In the year to June 30, 2000,
Chinese Estates' earnings before net interest, tax, and
depreciation to gross interest coverage was about 1.5 times, while
its funds from operations to net debt was approximately 10%.

Standard & Poor's will resolve the CreditWatch placement after
reviewing further information from the company.


CHINA TELECOM: Refuses to Compensate Users
------------------------------------------
China Telecom, China's largest Internet service provider, has
refused to take blame or offer compensation to millions of
mainland Internet users disconnected last Friday when a cable
broke under the Pacific Ocean, according to the Thursday issue of
the South China Morning Post.

The internet provider refuses to take responsibility when the
service was interrupted by the force majeure.

Yu Fuguo, a lawyer from Beijing-based J&A Law Firm, said: "Force
majeure usually refers to earthquakes, volcanic disruptions or
other natural disasters that cannot be predicted."

Most of China's 22 million Internet users subscribe to China
Telecom.

Many lost connections to instant messengers, overseas Web sites
and free e-mail boxes based outside China when a US$1.4 billion
undersea, fiber-optic cable broke last week.

Severed cable, which has jammed network traffic between China and
North America since Friday, will be fixed by February 23.

Although many Chinese users have complained via the Internet, the
official said his company had received no formal demands for
compensation.


PACIFIC CENTURY: Fails To Find Buyer
-------------------------------------
Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW), Richard Li's communications
vehicle, fell as much as 5.1 percent on rumors that it has failed
to find buyers for a 7.5 percent stake in the company to be
offload by Cable & Wireless Plc (C&W), the Quamnet News reported
on Monday.

PCCW shares were down 3.6 percent to HK$4.725 as of yesterday.

C&W could trade its 15 percent stake in PCCW for the Hong Kong
company's 50 percent share in its Internet Protocol backbone joint
venture with Australia's Telstra. The deal would rid PCCW of a
damaging stock overhang in return for a non-core holding it might
be keen to sell soon anyway.


TIANJIN TRUST: Encounters Difficulty in Raising Funds
-----------------------------------------------------
China's Tianjin Trust and Investment Corp (Titic) is facing
problems in raising funds to make a scheduled coupon payment on
Samurai bonds, a senior company official said yesterday.

Du Qingping, Titic vice president, said "We are actively raising
money, but it's still unclear if we can make the half-year
interest payment due in June. It's not for us alone to decide
this, it also depends on other parties, including the Tianjin city
government," Hong Kong iMail reported on Friday.

Issued in 1996 by Titic, once a fund-raising arm of the Tianjin
city government, the 12.5 billion yen (HK$837.5 million), 2.375
per cent five-year Samurai bonds were scheduled to mature on
December 13.

Samurai bonds are yen debt issued in Japan by foreign entities.
Titic narrowly beat the clock to meet coupon payments on Samurai
bonds in December.

It missed a December 13 coupon payment deadline on a Samurai bond
and only managed to pay bondholders 148 million yen in half-year
interest on December 25, just two days before the end of a 14-day
grace period.

The late payment further weakened confidence in China's trust
firms, already hit by a repayment default by the Hainan Itic on
28.5 billion yen in Samurai bonds in October.

"We are still looking for ways to repay the bonds," Du said.

Titic channelled more than half the proceeds from the Samurai
market into government-backed oil pipelines in the city. Other
funds have gone into such businesses as textiles and hotels.



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

PLN: Gov't. & Creditors Monitor Developments
--------------------------------------------
The government and a consortium of foreign creditors will monitor
the developments in private power producers in Indonesia by
holding meetings every three months as part of PLN's restructuring
plan, according to the Wednesday edition of the Jakarta Post.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
together with representatives from the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank, the United States' Exim Bank, Germany's Hermes
and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, among others, met
Tuesday with the team to discuss issues surrounding the power
sector.

In the early 1990s, PLN signed contracts for 27 power plant
projects with independent power producers (IPP) backed by foreign
funds to cope with an expected surge in demand.

The company has said it expects losses of up to Rp 20 trillion
(about $2.1 billion) this year. Subsequently, PLN has asked the
government to take over some of its short-term debts, but it has
not yet received a response.

Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources ,
said creditors wanted the government to support PLN because it is
facing severe financial difficulties.

He proposes a debt-to-asset swap with the government to recover
from the crisis.

However, such a deal is in doubt, with Coordinating Minister for
the Economy Rizal Ramli rejecting earlier any bailout by the
government.

Purnomo did hint, however, that the government may reverse its
position, saying that Rizal promised to study PLN's proposal.

"Rizal has asked PLN to submit the details of its financial
condition immediately."


SINAR MAS: Management Performance Weak
--------------------------------------
The Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) sees some
weakness in the investment management performance agreement (IMPA)
between the government, Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) and
Sinar Mas Group, according to the Wednesday edition of the
Indoexchange News.

The weaknesses are still not specified but it was the government's
feeble position in the agreement signed on May 28, 1999.

One of the articles in the agreement stated that if the affiliated
party could not repay its debt in 24 months after the IMPA was
signed, the government would cover the debt through issuance of
bonds other than recapitulated bonds.

In the beginning of this month, IBRA decided that Sinar Mas Group
must secure its affiliated liabilities to BII by pledging assets
worth 145 percent of the Group's liability. Sinar Mas's debt in
that government-sponsored recapitalized bank is Rp12trillion,
according to the Wednesday issue of Indoexchange News.

Edwin Gerungan , IBRA chief, said the government wanted to bring
up BII into an healthy bank but there is still the questions on
the collateral schemes.

Edwin also said that the government would likely to extend the
deadline for Sinar Mas Group's debt repayment if the time given at
the moment was inadequate.

"There might be a renegotiation if when the time comes, Sinar Mas
Group cannot repay its debt to the government," said Edwin.

Sinar Mas Group's debt was quite huge and the government ought to
review carefully the value of the assets surrendered by the Group,
said Paskah.


=========
J A P A N
=========


CRAYFISH CO: Litigation-Plagued Firm Restructures Operating Units
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Crayfish Co. Ltd., a leading provider of e-mail and other
Internet-related services to small and medium-sized businesses in
Japan, will create five separate business units as part of its
restructuring program.

Crayfish is facing stockholder litigation resulting from its 2000
Initial public offering (IPO). Several related lawsuits allege the
company did not disclose the ailing business condition of its
marketing partner and largest stockholder, Hikari Tsushin, which
owns 41 percent of Crayfish.

The company has dissolved its marketing agreement with Hikari in
the first move of a restructuring effort.

The five separate business units are corporate headquarters (CRHQ)
and four operating business units, Crayfish Business Development
(CRBD), Crayfish Technology (CRTX), Crayfish Service & Support
(CRSS), and Crayfish IT Concierge (CRIC).

The four business units will endeavor to maximize customer
satisfaction and profit each unit. CRHQ will control and
administrate the four operating units so that the business unit
can move quickly.

The heads of the units are authorized to make certain decisions on
operation and organizational management in the units.

Crayfish also announced the appointment of Takafumi Shimoyama as
Executive Officer of Crayfish Service & Support and Naotaka Ota as
Executive Officer of Crayfish Internet Concierge, in order to
reinforce its sales and marketing operations.


KYOEI LIFE: Changes Name to Gibraltar Life Insurance Co.
--------------------------------------------------------
Kyoei Life Insurance Co. asked permission of the Tokyo District
Court to change its name to Gibraltar Life Insurance Co., Kyodo
News reported on Wednesday.

Prudential Insurance Co. of America has extended an offer to bring
solvency into the situation by injecting 50 billion yen in funds,
thus avoiding the safety net provided by Life Insurance
Policyholders Protection Corp.  Prudential is spending 364 billion
yen to purchase its business rights and brand name, dispelling
fears that taxpayers' money will be needed to rehabilitate Kyoei.

A total of 415 billion yen remains available in the form of
emergency protection funds pooled by life insurance companies, and
the industry safety net can apply for 400 billion yen in public
funds should it exceed its limit.

The industry continues to brace for the funding needs of the
failed Taisho Life Insurance and Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance,
which have yet to announce their rehabilitation plans.


VICKERS CAPITAL: To Merge With DBS Group
----------------------------------------
Vickers Capital Ltd. shares fell by more than a quarter after
parent Vickers Ballas Holdings Ltd. said it would sell the firm
before merging with DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

The DBS merger requires Vickers Ballas to sell its venture capital
unit, according to the Wednesday issue of Kyodo News.

Greg Seow, chairman-designate of the merged entity, to be named
DBS Vickers Securities Ltd., said he's confident the merger will
go through, despite the fall in Vickers Capital's shares.

At the close of the market, Vickers Capital fell 21 cents, or 26.3
percent, to 59 cents, with 45.2 million shares traded or 14.6
times the six-month daily average. The stock had fallen by as much
as 26.9 percent during the day.


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


DAEWOO MOTOR: General Motors Loses Interest in Bidding
------------------------------------------------------
General Motors Corp. (GMC) will not pursue plans to takeover
Daewoo Motor's overseas assets after the release of the due
diligence check by Korea Development Bank, the Bloomberg reported
on Wednesday.

Creditors are wary of the on-going industrial strife at Daewoo
factories which might undermine the company's asset value.

Choi Jong Hak, Daewoo union spokesman, they are not going to make
it easier for GM and does not have intentions to surrender in
their labor protests.  The union opposes the management decision
to lay off 1,785 workers to reduce cost.

Analysts have expected GM to avoid buying into Daewoo Motor's
foreign plants, which include factories in Poland, Ukraine and
India.

Creditors set aside 180 billion won ($144 million) for Daewoo
Motor for January and February. So far 75 billion won has been
spent, and the remainder may be withheld, Uhm said.

Daewoo Motor has been under court receivership since November.
It's up to a court to decide whether to end receivership.


INTERNATIONAL FIRE: FSS To Wrap-Up Due Diligence Work
-----------------------------------------------------
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said yesterday that it
will complete due-diligence audits into International Fire &
Marine Insurance Co, according to the Tuesday issue of the Korea
Herald.

FSS may designate International Fire as a poorly managed financial
institution based on the results of the due diligence audit.

If their liabilities were found to exceed assets, International
and Daehan will be declared insolvent and ordered to submit final
management rationalization plans to the financial watchdog.


The FSS will sell the insurance firm if reform plans will not be
feasible.


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

EPE POWER: Defaults on Interest Payment
---------------------------------------
EPE Power Corp. Ltd., power generation company, has further
defaulted on the payment of monthly interest of RM613,603 due to
several banks under the revolving credit (RC) facilities,
according to the Thursday issue of the Star On Line.

Total principal outstanding on the facilities as at Tuesday was
RM94.6 million.

The Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB) was appointed
as financial advisor and has presented a concept paper to the
lenders concept paper for the debt-restructuring scheme.


TIME ENGINEERING: Shares Fall 3.3 Percent
-----------------------------------------
Time Engineering Bhd. shares fell 3.3 percent to their lowest
level in almost a month after the 1.89 billion ringgit ($497
million) share sale of its Time DotCom unit drew the worst-ever
response seen in Malaysia, according to the Wednesday issue of
Bloomberg.

The initial share sale, the country's biggest in five years,
attracted applications for just a quarter of the 572 million
shares offered at 3.30 ringgit each to the public, employees,
business partners and others between Jan. 22 and Feb. 8.

The poor response to Time DotCom, which manages the longest fiber
optics network in Malaysia, shows waning interest in new issues as
the country's economy cools, hurting demand for goods and services
and possibly prompting a delay in some other large Malaysian share
sales. At 7.7 percent, the Malaysian economy's third-quarter
growth was its slowest pace in five quarters.

Time DotCom saw less than 9 percent of the 323 million shares it
sold to the public taken up, the lowest subscription in initial
public offerings by Malaysian companies since the stock exchange
was set up in 1973. Mold-maker Kumpulan H&L Hitech Bhd. won 28
percent, while chipmaker Unisem Bhd. got 50 percent in their share
sales in August 1998.

Time Engineering said yesterday after the close of trading that it
sold only a fifth of the 144 million shares it offered to its own
shareholders. Another 85 million shares that weren't underwritten,
were sold to other unidentified investors.


UNITED ENGINEERING: Tycoon Asks for Creditor Forbearance
--------------------------------------------------------
Tycoon Halim Saad yesterday asked for more time to make the second
installment from July 14 to October 1 in payment of the United
Engineers Malaysia (UEM) even as he kept the first of four
installments coughing up RM100 million (S$46 million) for listed
United Engineers (UEM), the Business Times reported on Thursday.

UEM's board agreed in December to spread Mr Halim's payment
obligations over four installments -- RM100 million yesterday,
July 14 and Dec 14, with the remainder, the bulk of the payment
including interest, due on May 14 next year. If interest is to
accrue at the previous rate of 9.4 per cent, it has been estimated
that the final payment could exceed RM3 billion.

The put option is the result of a controversial decision by UEM at
the height of the financial crisis to buy out unidentified
investors in Renong for RM3.24 per share.

In recent months, Halim has been pushing for the listing of Time
dotCom, to solve the debt problems of its listed parent, Time
Engineering. Time, like UEM, is an associate of the Renong Group.
Time dotCom's massive RM1.85 billion IPO, which closed last week,
was 75 per cent under subscribed.

Halim has also engineered a complicated asset buyout of Renong by
UEM, which is in progress.


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

BAYAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Will Unveil Repayment Plan Next Month
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayantel), the telecom arm of the
Lopez family, will present to its creditors next month a plan to
restructure $480 million worth of debts as the company's cash
flows continue to worsen due to diminishing subscriber base, the
Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a "global foreign player" in the telecommunications
industry is emerging as a possible white knight that would infuse
fresh capital for a 20- to 40-percent stake in the company. The
potential foreign investor is currently conducting a two-week due
diligence on Bayantel and sister firm SkyCable.

Angel Ong, Benpres chief financial officer, said Bank of America
has been tapped as the financial adviser for the restructuring
plan. The plan will include a 'contingent sponsor support' from
Benpres Holdings Corp., the Lopezes' flagship holding company that
owns 47 percent of Bayantel.

Ong said the Bayantel restructuring plan would likely be patterned
'loosely' after that of Pilipino Telephone Corp., a subsidiary of
telephone giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) that
had defaulted on P34.9 billion worth of debts. PLDT provided a
commitment to support Piltel to the tune of $150 million in line
with a master restructuring agreement that was recently completed
with various creditor groups.

"Piltel's debts amounted to $900 million while Bayantel's is only
half that. Also, Bayantel's cash flows look better than Piltel so
sponsor support might be lower than Piltel in relative terms," Ong
added.

Under preliminary plans to restructure its $480 million worth of
debts, Bayantel will pay even the accrued interests and will try
to stretch the restructuring to as long as possible.

Bayantel's creditor banks include Equitable PCI Bank, Land Bank of
the Philippines, Bank of the Philippine Islands, United Coconut
Planters Bank, Deutsche Bank, Standard and Chartered Bank and the
Export Development Corp. of Canada.

Benpres has been trying to attract a strategic investor for its
ailing telecom unit. It had, however, stopped providing financial
support to Bayantel.


URBAN BANK: Bancommerce Defers Rehabilitation Plans
---------------------------------------------------
Bank of Commerce (Bancommerce) has deferred it merger and
rehabilitation plans with Urban Bank after putting closure on its
legal controversies, according to the Thursday issue of the
Philippine Star.

Raul de Mesa, Bancommerce president, said that in the wake of
several pending estafa and related charges against Urban Bank
officials, "the rational thing for Bancommerce to do is to
exercise extreme prudence in the pursuit of the plan as various
issues have surfaced recently concerning the closed bank that are
begging for answers."

De Mesa said Bancommerce does not want the legal hitches hounding
Urban Bank to affect the viability of the planned merger and
rehabilitation.

He said it is not abandoning its plans but rather re-studying its
options.

Aside from the legal obstacles, Urban bank's major depositors are
demanding better payment terms.

Social Security System, and publicly held companies San Miguel
Corp. (SMC), Petron Corp. and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), want
additional provisions inserted in the final agreement that will
increase their chances of getting their money back once the merger
takes place.

SSS prefers convertible bonds instead of preferred shares in place
for its deposits if the merger will push through.

"They want a liquidity mechanism that will allow them to liquidity
their deposits sometime in the near future," Philippine Deposit
Insurance Corp. (PDIC) president Norberto Nazareno said, adding
that additional mechanisms are still being negotiated between the
companies, Urban Bank and Bank of Commerce.

SMC, Petron and Meralco have a combined P750-million deposit in
the bank.


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

ASIA PULP: Faces Lawsuits from Banks in Singapore
-------------------------------------------------
Asia Pulp & Paper Co., a unit of Indonesia's Sinar Mas group, is
facing lawsuits in Singapore from two banks for its failure to pay
debts, according to the Thursday issue of the Bloomberg.

France's Credit Lyonnais SA and the French-Arab bank Union de
Banques Arabes & Francaises last month submitted separate writs
against Asia Pulp before the Singapore's High Court.


Asia Pulp & Paper is one of the biggest debtors in the emerging
markets, owing some $9 billion to $10 billion. Much of the
company's debt matures over the next one to three years, while its
annual interest payments add up to about $800 million to $1
billion, the paper said.

The company, which is listed in New York and based in Singapore,
has most of its assets in Indonesia and China.

The firm said it will pay $13.25 million to bondholders by the end
of February to avoid being declared in default.



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


BANGKOK STEEL: Bankruptcy Court Rejects Rehabilitation Petition
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Central Bankruptcy Court yesterday revoked the rehabilitation
petition filed by Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial Bank, major
creditors of Bangkok Steel Industry Plc, the Bangkok Post reported
on Thursday.

In considering the petition, the court took into account two key
legal requirements for acceptance of the case, one of which was
whether the debtor owed the creditors who filed the petition more
than Bt10 million.

The debtor owed Bt3.5 billion, including principal and interest,
to Bangkok Bank. The debt was in promissory notes, overdrafts and
other instruments. The debtor also owed Bt1.4 billion, including
principal and interest, to Siam Commercial Bank.

However, Bangkok Steel Industry told the court that it owed two
billion baht to Bangkok Bank and Bt700 million to Siam Commercial
Bank.

Bangkok Steel Industry claimed that the differences in figures
quoted by each side were because the creditors had taken advantage
of the baht's depreciation to inflate the debt.

The second requirement is whether the debtor's liabilities
exceeded its assets.

The creditors said that, according to the debtor's balance sheet
for the accounting period ended December 1999, the liabilities
amounted to Bt18 billion while the company's assets amounted to
Bt14 billion.

As a result, the debtor's liabilities exceeded its assets by about
Bt4.5 billion.

However, the company claimed that as the appraisal of asset value
was based on estimates if the assets were sold, the assets were
undervalued.

From the balance sheet, the court noted that the debtor still
owned investments in stocks, with historical prices totalling six
billion baht.

Together with the profit of about two billion baht to be gained
from other debts which the company had bought at a discount, the
debtor's total assets amounted to about Bt20.8 billion, compared
with liabilities of Bt19.1 billion.

Prasert Tangtrongsakdi, chief executive of Bangkok Steel Industry,
said that the company would attempt to settle its debts out of
court, by proposing a business rehabilitation plan to the
creditors.

However, the company would have to negotiate with the creditors
first on their priorities before finalizing the plan.

He said that the company's debts now amounted to about eight Bt 8
billion.

It had been attempting to negotiate with its overseas creditors to
buy back debts at a discount of 15%. So far, it had managed to cut
its offshore debts to about US$20 million.


CMIC RUANG: Posts Bt227.8 Million Net Loss
------------------------------------------
CMIC Ruang Khao High-Income Fund posted a net loss of Bt227.8
million, or Bt1.14 a share, in the nine months ending December 31.

The fund recorded a net profit of Bt22 million, or Bt0.11 a share,
in the same period a year earlier, the Nation reported on
Thursday.

However, the fund showed improvement in the third quarter, posting
a net loss of Bt0.841 or Bt0.004 per share, compared to a net loss
of Bt9 million or Bt0.05 per share in the same quarter a year
earlier.


TANAYONG: Post Bt1.4 Billion Net Loss
-------------------------------------
Tanayong recorded a net loss of Bt1.4 billion, or Bt3.93 per
share, in its third quarter ended December 30, according to the
Thursday issue of the Nation.

In the same period a year earlier, it posted a net profit of Bt1
billion, or Bt2.87 a share.

The company also saw a deterioration in its financial performance
in April to December of last year, with net loss of Bt6.9 billion,
or Bt18.81 per share, compared to a net loss of Bt1.7 billion, or
Bt4.62 a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The company submitted a letter to the exchange asking for a de-
listing waiver due to the sharp loss, which it blamed on the
flotation of the baht in 1997.


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