/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCRAP_Public/020220.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
Wednesday, February 20, 2002, Vol. 5, No. 36
Headlines
A U S T R A L I A
BRISBANE BRONCOS: Magic Bidder's Statement, Offers Submitted
EARTH SANCTUARIES: Requests Listed Options Rule Waiver
FINANCIAL OPTIONS: Court Appoints Ferrier Hodgson as Liquidator
IOCOM LIMITED: Constructing Supplementary Prospectus
LEYSHON RESOURCES: Equipment Acquisition Option Not Exercised
NORMANDY MINING: Newmont Declares Offer Unconditional
NORMANDY MINING: Delta Issues Conditions Status
PACIFIC DUNLOP: Releases Half-Yearly Report
C H I N A & H O N G K O N G
401 HOLDINGS: Winding-Up Petition Dismissed
GLAD HOME: Winding Up Petition Slated For Hearing
HIMDAT FINANCE: Winding Up Petition To Be Heard
KEY CONTROL: Winding Up Petition Hearing Set
LUCKY APEX: Hearing of Winding Up Petition Docketed
PROFIT SONIC: Petition To Wind Up Scheduled
V-TEX GARMENTS: Winding Up Sought By Hung Ming
I N D O N E S I A
BANK CENTRAL: IBRA Reviews Bidder's Proposed Terms, Conditions
MEDIA GROUP: Debt Restructuring Finalized
J A P A N
ASAHI BANK: LSE, SSE Shares Delisted
DAIWA SECURITIES: Moody's Lowers Rating To Baa2 Outlook Negative
NEC CORP: Receives Blade Server Order From GSIC
NIPPON TELEGRAPH: Reaches Agreement With Hitachi, Matsushita
NISSAN MOTOR: Welcomes Ghosn to Alcoa's Board Of Directors
TOSHIBA CORP: Develops RISC-Microprocessor With MIPS
K O R E A
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR: Micron Wants Decision by February End
HYNIX SEMICON: Needs Micron's Independent Survival Assurance
HYUNDAI HEAVY: Decides Separation Date From Parent Group
HYUNDAI MOTOR: Denies Reports of SUV Talks With DaimlerChrysler
M A L A Y S I A
ACTACORP HOLDINGS: Receives Discharge Letter From CDRC
CHASE PERDANA: Rights Issues Proceeds, As Time Is Extended
HAI MING: Appoints New Chief Executive Officer
MALAYSIAN TOBACCO: Obtains Proposed Acquisition Approvals
PAN MALAYSIAN: Soo Lay Buys Shares During Closed Period
PARK MAY: Enters HOA Proposals With KKMB, Renong
PROJEK USAHASAMA: Updates Defaulted Payment Status
RNC CORPORATION: Posts Change in Boardroom Notice
RNC CORPORATION: SC Approves Aliran Ihsan's Debt Waiver
SOUTHERN PLASTIC: Remains in Payment Default
SPORTMA CORPORATION: Defaulted Payment Stands at RM212,644,235
TECHNO ASIA: SAs Submit Statutory Declaration to KLSE
P H I L I P P I N E S
NATIONAL BANK: Offers Tax E-Payment Facility
NATIONAL POWER: Red Electrica to Participate Privatization Bid
PHILIPPINE LONG: Fitch Lowers Senior Unsecured Rating To 'BB-'
S I N G A P O R E
EXCEL MACHINE: Issues Profit Warning
FHTK HOLDINGS: Posts Notice Of Shareholder's Interest
T H A I L A N D
EMC PUBLIC: Posts Rehab Plan Implementation Report
GENERAL ENGINEERING: Director Javanalikikorn Resigns From Post
SHINAWATRA THAI: Petition for Business Reorganization Filed
SIAM SYNTECH: Administrators OK Board of Directors Changes
TANAYONG PUBLIC: Bankruptcy Court OKs Debt Restructuring Plan
- - - - - - - -
=================
A U S T R A L I A
=================
BRISBANE BRONCOS: Magic Bidder's Statement, Offers Submitted
------------------------------------------------------------
Magic Millions League Pty Limited (Magic Millions) has completed
sending its Bidder's Statement dated 6 February 2002 (which
contains an Offer dated 15 February 2002) to all persons
registered as the holder of ordinary shares in Brisbane Broncos
Limited (Broncos) in the register of Broncos shareholders as at
9.00am (Sydney time) on 6 February 2002 (being the date set by
Magic Millions under subsection 633(2) of the Act) (Relevant
Shareholders).
EARTH SANCTUARIES: Requests Listed Options Rule Waiver
-------------------------------------------------------
Earth Sanctuaries Limited, is aware that, under the listing
rules, is required to provide option holders with written advice
that their options expire at the end of March. However, given
that the Company's shares are currently quoted at less than 10%
of the exercise price, the Company requests that the rule be
waived in this instance.
In mid-January this year, TCR-AP reported that Company intends
to undertake a major restructuring in order to enhance and to
preserve shareholder value. The first step in the restructuring
will involve the commencement of a significant program
of cost reductions.
FINANCIAL OPTIONS: Court Appoints Ferrier Hodgson as Liquidator
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
announced Monday that is has successfully applied to wind up
Financial Options Group Inc Pty Ltd (FOGI) and the Australia
Fund Limited.
The Supreme Court of New South Wales has appointed Mr Peter
Murray Walker of Ferrier Hodgson as liquidator of FOGI and
Australia Fund Limited. Mr Walker was previously appointed as
provisional liquidator of each company on 10 January 2002.
FOGI operated an investment and futures business and is the
major shareholder of Australia Fund Limited. ASIC is currently
investigating alleged deficiencies within that business.
ASIC previously obtained interim orders freezing the assets of
the two directors of FOGI, Mr Robert Geoffrey Walker and Mr
Robert Gary Johnstone, which prevents them from disposing of any
personal assets. Those orders remain in place.
Mr Johnstone and Mr Walker are also prohibited from leaving
Australia without the prior consent of the Court. Mr Walker was
previously overseas and has now returned to Australia.
This matter will return for further hearing before the Supreme
Court of New South Wales on 28 February 2002.
ASIC's investigation into FOGI is continuing and no further
comment will be made at this time.
IOCOM LIMITED: Constructing Supplementary Prospectus
----------------------------------------------------
Iocom Limited (ASX:ICM) are preparing a supplementary prospectus
to shareholders in response to concerns raised by the ASIC.
The General Meeting of shareholders being held Tuesday (19
February 2002) will proceed as scheduled, however the meeting
will be adjourned with resolutions 1, 3, 4, & 5 as detailed in
the Information Memorandum dated 15 January 2002 to be
considered at the reconvened meeting.
The subsequent General Meeting will be reconvened on the 14
March 2002. Notice of the adjournment will be sent to all
shareholders. A new timetable will be issued shortly.
The Board of Iocom Limited announced that the 'Top-Up Scheme' is
currently oversubscribed.
In addition, applications received under the 'Top-Up Scheme'
will allow Iocom Limited to achieve the spread requirements
under the Australia Stock Exchange listing rules.
Proxy votes received for resolutions as detailed in the
Information Memorandum dated 15 January 2002 are as follows:
RESOLUTION AGAINST ABSTAIN FOR
Resolution 1 75,000 14,896 13,879,623
Resolution 2 75,000 56,031 10,778,488
Resolution 3 75,550 37,896 12,813,209
Resolution 4 93,050 39,401 13,804,322
Resolution 5 76,050 14,896 13,879,573
Optima's vendors have approved an extension of the completion
date for the share sale agreement.
LEYSHON RESOURCES: Equipment Acquisition Option Not Exercised
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Directors of Leyshon Resources Limited (Leyshon or Company)
advised that the Company has decided not to exercise its option
to acquire the plant and equipment used at the Mt Leyshon
minesite.
Under the Management Agreement with Normandy Mining Limited,
Leyshon would have been required to remit $3.5 million to
exercise the above option.
The Management Agreement still provides for Leyshon to
participate in 60% of the proceeds received from the sale of the
plant and equipment when it is auctioned in April 2002.
NORMANDY MINING: Newmont Declares Offer Unconditional
-----------------------------------------------------
Newmont Mining Corporation (Newmont) announced on the evening of
15 February 2002 (Australian time) that it has obtained a
relevant interest in over 50% of the shares in Normandy Mining
Limited (Normandy) and has declared its offer for Normandy
shares unconditional.
NORMANDY DIRECTORS' RECOMMENDATION
The Directors of Normandy recommend that shareholders act
promptly to accept Newmont's offer for their Normandy shares.
Each of the Directors of Normandy either has already or will, as
soon as possible, accept or procure acceptance of the Newmont
offer in respect of the shares of Normandy the disposal of which
he can control.
Newmont's offer is now the only takeover offer for Normandy.
Newmont has a majority interest in the company under an
unconditional offer. In these circumstances, the Directors of
Normandy believe it is improbable that an alternative offer will
be made.
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ACTING
Remaining Normandy shareholders are now advised to promptly
accept the Newmont offer. If they do not (or do not sell their
shares on the stock market), there is a risk that they will be
left with a minority holding in a company with greatly reduced
liquidity. There is also a risk that the share price of Normandy
in those circumstances may fall.
If Newmont obtains 90% of Normandy and moves to compulsorily
acquire outstanding shares (which Newmont has advised is its
intention), those shareholders that have not accepted the
Newmont offer or sold on market may need to wait for the
compulsory acquisition process to complete and payment to be
made, which may take a month or more.
Newmont's offer of 3.85 shares per 100 Normandy shares and
A$0.50 cash per Normandy share has a current implied value of
$2.31 per Normandy share (based on the NYSE closing price of
Newmont shares on 15 February 2002). This is a 110% premium to
the closing Normandy share price of $1.10 on 4 September 2001,
the day prior to AngloGold Limited announcing its intention to
make an offer for the company. The Newmont shares issued to
accepting shareholders (other than those with registered
addresses in the United States of America and Canada)
will be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in the form of
CHESS Depositary Interests (CDI's) each representing one tenth
of a Newmont share.
The Newmont offer is scheduled to close at 7:00pm Sydney time on
26 February 2002. Instructions for accepting Newmont's offer are
contained in Newmont's Bidder's Statement or US Offer Document.
If shareholders are unsure what to do, or have lost or did not
receive the forms required for an acceptance, contact
Computershare Investor Services on 1 800 001 199 toll free
within Australia or +61 3 9611 5711 from outside Australia or,
if you have a registered address in the United States or Canada,
contact Innisfree M&A Incorporated on (212) 750 5833 (Banks and
Brokers) or (888) 750 5835 (all other callers toll free).
Enquiries concerning this report:
Peter Bird
EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER - INVESTOR RELATIONS
E-mail: investor@normandy.com.au
100 Hutt Street, Adelaide 5000, South Australia, Australia
Telephone: +61 8 8303 1705 Facsimile: +61 8 8303 1994
NORMANDY MINING: Delta Issues Conditions Status
------------------------------------------------
Delta Acquisition LLC (ARBN 099 040 507) (Delta) hereby gives
notice under subsection 630(3) of the Corporations Act and
paragraph 5.10(f) of its off-market offer dated 10 January 2002
(US offer) for all of the ordinary shares in Normandy Mining
Limited (ABN 86 009 295 765) (Normandy) (including ordinary
shares of Normandy represented by Normandy American depository
shares) held by Normandy shareholders (which includes a Normandy
ADS holder) who have a registered address as shown in Normandy's
register of members in the United States of America or Canada
that:
(a) the US Offer and any contracts resulting from acceptance
of the US Offer are free of all the conditions in paragraph
5.10(a) of the US Offer;
(b) although some of the conditions in paragraph 5.10(a) of
the US Offer were not fulfilled, the US Offer and any contracts
resulting from acceptance of the US Offer were freed of those
conditions on 15 February 2002 by notice from Delta given in
accordance with section 650F of the Corporations Act; and
(c) The relevant interest in Normandy ordinary shares held by
Delta and its associates as at the date of this notice is
66.60%.
PACIFIC DUNLOP: Releases Half-Yearly Report
-------------------------------------------
The Directors of Pacific Dunlop Limited announced the Company
results for the half year ended 31 December, 2001. The Group's
continuing business, Ansell, saw Operating Profit increase from
$84.5 million in the previous corresponding period to $92.1
million in the current year. This was based on sales of $706.8
million in the current year, up from $686.2 million in the
previous corresponding period. This result was achieved despite
ongoing restructuring of manufacturing operations and
significant weakness in the global economy.
The after tax loss of $92.8 million includes the non-cash write-
downs of the Group's investment in Exide Technologies, a write-
down of certain Ansell assets and a net profit on sale of
businesses. For a full explanation of the write-downs see page
10.
In reviewing the half year results, the Chairman, Dr Ed Tweddell
commented: "This half year completes the transformation of
Pacific Dunlop from a conglomerate to, substantially, a single
business corporation. It marks a significant milestone for the
Company and creates a strong base for the future."
"My predecessor, John Ralph, announced a number of initiatives
which he completed before stepping down from the Board. They
included the sale of the Pacific Automotive business, the sale
of the Pacific Brands business, and the ring fencing of South
Pacific Tyres with an option to exit the investment in four
years. All of these projects were completed on a timely basis
and established a solid foundation for the future."
"The restructured Group now comprises Ansell and a number of non
core investments including South Pacific Tyres (50%), Ambri Ltd
(19.9%), Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd (50%), BT Equipment
Ltd (45%) in Australia, and Exide Technologies (16%) in USA. As
advised, the South Pacific Tyres investment has been the subject
of restructuring during the period. The other investments will
be reviewed against the background of enhancement of shareholder
value and potential release of cash for further growth of
Ansell."
"The balance sheet has been strengthened significantly by the
sale of businesses with the proceeds being applied to the
reduction of debt. Pacific Dunlop is now in a strong position
both financially and strategically to maximize the Ansell
business."
"We are committed to the restoration of shareholder value. Our
intention is to rigorously review the Company's strategic
options going forward and continually assess the potential
contribution to growth of the Company's assets. We will take
steps to manage assets as required in the interests of
transparency, consolidation of core businesses and a commitment
to build shareholder value."
"As previously announced, a major strategic review of Ansell has
commenced. This will provide an important insight and enable a
clear strategy to be formulated, based on sound knowledge of the
business and its potential. The review is well underway and Bain
International is assisting the Company in the process. It is
expected the review will be completed in early April. A decision
regarding the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer of
Pacific Dunlop is expected to be announced after the completion
of the review."
"We also announce the intention to formalize the Company's
focus by seeking shareholder approval for a change of name. I am
sure that the name change in conjunction with the outcome of the
strategic review and the appointment of a Chief Executive
Officer, will all contribute to the Group moving forward into an
exciting new era focusing on protective products in a broad
healthcare context", said Dr Tweddell.
BUSINESS REVIEW - ANSELL HEALTHCARE
31 DECEMBER 2001 31 DECEMBER 2000
$M $M
Operating Revenue 706.8 686.2
Operating Profit (EBITA) 92.1 84.5
Assets Employed 1,023.8 1,130.2
Depreciation 20.0 22.7
Note: Ansell Head Office costs are (based on Australian
Accounting Standard AASB 1005 Segment Reporting) included in
Unallocated in the ASX Release. The current year's cost is $11.5
million, compared with the corresponding period last year of
$7.6 million. Of the increase, approximately $2.6 million
relates to the hedging program noted below, and the translation
impact.
Ansell's sales of $706.8 million were up 3.0% up on the previous
corresponding period, and Operating Profit of $92.1 million was
9% higher. These results were achieved despite the weak global
economic conditions, which saw a substantial manufacturing
slowdown in the USA and Europe, particularly in the automotive
sector, and further uncertainty following the events of 11
September 2001. Significantly, Ansell held or increased market
share in most of its key markets and products in this difficult
trading environment.
Ansell operates worldwide in a range of currencies, the most
predominant of which are US dollars and the Euro. Any impact of
currency movements is recorded against Ansell's trading results.
Ansell does not hedge profits, with the exception of Euro
Operating Profit, 75% of which is hedged into US dollars on a
rolling six month basis.
Ansell is a global leader in healthcare barrier protection.
Ansell's extensive range of products and supporting services
provide tailored barrier protection solutions for the prevention
of infection or injury to a broad spectrum of users. Ansell's
customers range from medical professionals, police, military,
postal and fire forces, to everyday consumers and almost every
type of industry where there is a growing focus on injury
prevention and cleanliness of products and workplace
environments.
Ansell is organized across three geographic regions (Americas,
Europe, Asia/Pacific), and three broad market segments
(Occupational Professional, Consumer), supported by centralized
Global Operations and Supply Chain, and Science and Technology
groups.
As previously noted, all assets are continually being assessed
to ensure a positive contribution to shareholder value. This
review revealed that Ansell's manufacturing facility at Troy,
Alabama, (USA) was not contributing to shareholder value. It has
therefore been decided to close the plant.
The Troy plant currently produces disposable synthetic nitrile
examination gloves for general-purpose barrier protection (TNT).
And low particulate synthetic Nitrilite (TM) Critical
Environment (CE) gloves for the micro-electronics industry.
In the mid-1990's, margins for CE gloves were highly attractive,
and forecast growth in the micro-electronics industry supported
the construction of three highly-specialized CE glove production
lines at Troy. These new lines supplemented the existing two
older general- purpose nitrile disposable synthetic glove lines.
Subsequently, fluctuations in the global microelectronics
industry and changes in product specifications have held back
growth to levels below those anticipated. Further, the micro-
electronics industry has developed a new generation of products
requiring ultra-clean gloves, which have exceeded both the
design capabilities and economic viability of the Troy lines.
Under present operating conditions, the Troy facility is
incurring an operating loss of $7.7 million annually and is
using cash of $3.5 million. It is now more cost-effective for
Ansell to service the CE market from its Asian facilities, which
utilize a flexible and lower cost manufacturing process. In
addition, the general-purpose TNT nitrile disposable gloves
manufactured at Troy can also now be more economically sourced
in Asia.
Based on the above changes in market conditions, the Board has
determined that it is in the best interest of shareholders to
cease operations at the loss making Troy site. This decision has
been made after all other avenues have been explored, and will
necessitate a one-time charge of $63.9 million, which has been
fully provided in the accounts. Of this amount, $8.2 million
will be a cash charge, with the remaining $55.7 million, a non-
cash charge.
The benefit of this approach is to eliminate the above-mentioned
annual loss, and pave the way for a $5.5 million operating
profit in the first full year after completion of the closure, a
$13.2 million turnaround in the first full year. The closure
will be cash positive to the extent of $5.5 million, a $9.0
million turnaround in the first full year.
A brief review of each of Ansell's Market Segments for the first
half year follows:
PROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE
31 DECEMBER 2001 31 DECEMBER 2000
$M $M
Operating Revenue 279.1 264.8
Operating Profit 49.8 41.7
Assets Employed 438.0 458.5
Depreciation 9.2 10.3
The Professional Healthcare segment supports health care
providers with medical, surgical and examination gloves for hand
barrier protection and infection control. It accounts for
approximately 40% of Ansell's revenue, and 54% of operating
profit. Ansell is the undisputed world leader in market share of
natural latex and synthetic surgeons' gloves, with more than
20%, and ranks in the top three in the world examination glove
market, with around 12% share.
Global marketing programs focused on the new powder-free and
synthetic latex ranges of both surgeons' and examination gloves
continued to drive sales growth in all regions. Conversion rates
to powder-free products range from above 60% in Australia, to
35% in USA and somewhat less in Europe. Improved profit margins
have been achieved in the current half as a result of this
marketing strategy.
Acceptance of the Company's flagship Encore(TM) surgeons' glove
during hospital evaluation trials in USA was strong, with Ansell
winning over 65% of head to head trials against competitive
gloves. Europe launched the new Gammex PF(TM) (powder free)
surgeons' glove late in the period, and market trials show rapid
user acceptance. In Australia, where Ansell holds a clear
leadership position, the growth in powder free and synthetic
latex surgeons' gloves continued its positive momentum. World
wide, surgeons' gloves flowing from the new Shah Alam facility
in Malaysia are being well accepted. New synthetic latex
surgeons' gloves are also gaining increasing acceptance in the
fast-growing and profitable, but still relatively small sector.
Ansell's focus in examination gloves continued to shift towards
higher margin powder-free and synthetic latex products, and away
from more commodities powdered gloves. With the exception of one
site that produces a high margin and unique product, all
Ansell's examination glove manufacturing facilities are now
fully converted to powder free production. However, world over-
supply remains a factor depressing prices in this segment, which
supports Ansell's strategy of out-sourcing powdered gloves and
concentrating production on the higher margin powder free and
synthetic products. As a result of this approach, examination
gloves now represent less than 16% of Ansell's total sales
revenue, with only sales at attractive margins being retained.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTHCARE
31 DECEMBER 2001 31 DECEMBER 2000
$M $M
Operating Revenue 337.9 341.3
Operating Profit 29.8 35.3
Assets Employed 442.8 521.8
Depreciation 8.1 9.4
Ansell is the recognized global leader for Occupational Health
and Safety gloves, holding over 20% of the market for the non-
cotton and leather categories. This segment accounts for
approximately 47% of Ansell's total revenues, and 32% of
operating profit. Ansell also markets a range of housekeeping
gloves through a small number of selected partners in
international markets.
With significant resources and expertise in the field of
Occupational Health and Safety, Ansell offers consulting
advisory services to industry, and provides measurable
reductions in the occurrence and severity of hand injuries in
the workplace, as well as increased hygiene for processed foods
and other "clean" products.
The economic recession that has affected most industrialized
countries during the current period has negatively impacted the
Occupational Healthcare segment of Ansell's business, when
compared with the buoyant conditions in the same period last
year. A significant part of Ansell's customer base is in the
manufacturing sector, and this has been particularly hard hit,
especially in USA and Germany.
In face of the economic downturn, Ansell has increased its share
of the available market in all major categories. This has been
driven by the ongoing introduction of the Hyflex(TM) family of
ergonomic gloves that combines the polymer science and dipping
process know-how of Ansell with the fiber and knitting
technology of Golden Needles (acquired in 1997). Additionally,
the rollout of the Ford Global Distribution Alliance contract in
USA has progressed steadily, despite the reduction in automobile
production compared with last year. One of the major Ford plants
has reported a 50% reduction in the incidence of hand injuries
in the first six months following the implementation of Ansell's
product and supply recommendations.
The Occupational Healthcare segment is presently undergoing a
major restructuring which was announced last year involving the
transfer of most manufacturing activity from USA to Mexico and
Asia. The benefits of this restructuring will begin to flow
through to the results late in the second half. Additional
restructuring initiatives being announced are anticipated to
provide further significant margin improvement when completed.
CONSUMER HEALTHCARE
31 DECEMBER 2001 31 DECEMBER 2000
$M $M
Operating Revenue 89.8 80.1
Operating Profit 12.5 7.5
Assets Employed 143.0 146.9
Depreciation 2.7 3.0
Consumer Healthcare covers the markets for condoms and other
personal products, and is approximately 12% of Ansell's revenues
and 14% of operating profit. Ansell ranks in the global top 3 in
the condom segment, with a 12% share of the world market,
covering both retail and public sectors.
Significant improvement in performance is being driven by steady
gains in Ansell's market share in the growing world market for
condoms, as well as the initial benefits from the transfer of
manufacturing to Asia, which was fully implemented in this
period.
Ansell's Consumer Healthcare marketing teams in USA, Europe and
Australia have again won a number of awards for innovative
packaging and advertising, and the Company's leading brands
include LifeStyles (TM), ChekMate(TM), Manix(TM), Mates(TM),
Prime(TM), Contempo(TM), Kama Sutra(TM) and Akuel(TM). A United
Nations Agency recently projected a significant increase in the
need for condoms supplied by Public Sector authorities in the
fight against HIV/AIDS in Asia and Africa over the next decade.
Ansell's reputation for quality, competitive costs and
recognized brands ensure that it is well placed to participate
in any new opportunities that arise from this projection.
PROSPECTS
As previously reported, the major global restructuring of Ansell
is now well under way, and is anticipated to be completed late
in this financial year. The focus of this restructuring is on
further improving competitiveness and involves the transfer of
significant USA manufacturing activity to state-of-the-art
facilities in Mexico and Asia. Substantial and sustainable
profit improvements are expected once the facilities are fully
operational. The costs associated with this previously announced
restructuring were fully provided for at 30 June, 2001, and
benefits will begin to flow late in fiscal 2002, with the full
impact being seen in fiscal 2003. Other important aspects of
this restructuring are the consolidation of European sales and
administrative functions into one new facility in Belgium; the
integration of Occupational, Professional and Consumer Regional
Sales Management; the consolidation of global Supply Chain
management, and the centralization and relocation of Science &
Technology into a major new world class facility in Malaysia.
Ansell's Science & Technology group has provided a steady flow
of new products, new materials, and improved processes in recent
years. This flow of innovation, combined with global Supply
Chain capabilities and a "solution-oriented" approach to
providing customer value, continues to provide Ansell with a
major differentiation to its competitors. In each of the past
three years, Ansell has had more than 15% of sales from new
products that were introduced less than three years ago.
Based on the above, it is anticipated that Ansell's full year
results will be ahead of last year.
OTHER INVESTMENTS AND DISCONTINUED BUSINESSES
* SOUTH PACIFIC TYRES
As previously reported, an Agreement with our partner, The
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of the United States, governing
the restructure of the South Pacific Tyres joint venture, was
executed by both companies during the half.
Significant initiatives announced have been:
* a major overhaul of the Company's manufacturing division, with
the closure of three manufacturing facilities and an upgrading
to world-class levels of its two remaining factories.
* an aggressive plan to franchise selected Goodyear Auto Service
Centers and Beaurepaire stores nationally is expected to realize
significant distribution efficiencies.
The continuing restructuring of South Pacific Tyres will not
require any further cash contribution from Pacific Dunlop.
Pacific Dunlop's future funding is limited to the loans of $56
million currently in the business. The Agreement with Goodyear
contains a put option in favor of Pacific Dunlop, exercisable in
four to five years. If this put option is not exercised,
Goodyear has a call option, exercisable in the following six
months.
The company has recognized that South Pacific Tyres should be
classed as an investment and will not be equity accounted for as
in previous years, although the Partners' equity ownership and
voting rights remain unchanged at 50% each.
Highlights of the past six months have been:
* the successful renegotiation of new enterprise bargaining
agreements with key manufacturing union groups;
* the Partners have approved significant capital investment
earmarked for the Somerton tire factory, enabling production of
higher quality passenger tires;
* the launch of a totally revitalized and expanded product range
across all sectors including passenger, light truck, truck and
commercial vehicle tires;
* the launch of an expanded retreaded tire range and the new SP
Treads brand;
* the launch of exciting new marketing and advertising campaigns
across all major product and retail brand categories; and
significant original equipment supply contracts signed with the
largest Australian vehicle manufacturers.
Importantly, the major factory restructuring and store
franchising programs are tracking in line with South Pacific
Tyres' detailed master plan.
* AMBRI
In July, Pacific Dunlop announced the sale of its wholly owned
subsidiary Ambri Pty Ltd to Optecom Ltd for $10 million cash and
8.32million shares (or 19.9%) in Optecom (which subsequently
changes its name to Ambri Ltd). This business was sold to
relieve the Company of the burden of financing the ongoing
research and development required to bring the Ambri technology
to market. By retaining an investment in the business, Pacific
Dunlop will share in any commercial success.
* PACIFIC AUTOMOTIVE
As announced on 20 September, Pacific Dunlop completed the sale
of its Australian and New Zealand Automotive Distribution
business for $251.5 million. Potentially, an additional payment
of $20 million may be achieved if the business meets certain
profit criteria over the next two years. Pacific Automotive was
sold to a company owned and funded by institutional investors
comprising GS Private Equity, Gresham Private Equity, and
Macquarie Direct Investment.
Operating Revenue for the two months Pacific Automotive was
owned by the Group was $132 million, up on the previous
corresponding period's $130 million. Operating Profit was $7.5
million compared to the previous corresponding period's $4.5
million. The previous year's results reflected a slow start to
the year and was achieved after absorbing some one-off costs.
The current year's trading results were achieved in a difficult
market.
* PACIFIC BRANDS
The Company announced the successful completion of the sale of
its Pacific Brands business for $730 million on 30 November,
2001. Depending on the financial performance of the business
over the current financial year, Pacific Dunlop may potentially
receive additional consideration of up to $10 million. The
business was sold to an investor consortium led by CVC Asia
Pacific, and co-led by Catalyst Investments Managers Pty Ltd.
The five month trading results were strong compared to the
previous year. This was assisted by the results of the Sara Lee
business acquired in March, 2001. Operating Profit for the
period was $52.4 million, 7.8% above the previous corresponding
period of $48.6 million. This was based on sales of $662
million, up on the previous corresponding period of $595.5
million. These were creditable results in a period when retail
sales were heavily affected by international events and
uncertainty, and reflect slightly improved margins and better
expense control.
DIVIDEND
The Directors announced that no interim dividend would be paid.
EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS
The Directors of Pacific Dunlop also announced the intention to
seek shareholder approval to change the Company's name. This is
in keeping with the new focus and direction of the company. An
Extraordinary General Meeting will be held on April 12, 2002 to
approve this and other proposals, including a new constitution
in line with recent regulatory changes, revision to the non
executive directors' share plan, and a consolidation of capital.
The Board believes all items are in the best interests of
shareholders. Information relating to the Extraordinary General
Meeting will be provided by mail to shareholders shortly.
MANAGEMENT AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
As previously foreshadowed, there have been changes to the
Company's senior management and Board of Directors.
Former Chairman, John Ralph, stepped down in December and was
replaced by Dr Ed Tweddell, formerly the Managing Director of FH
Faulding & Company Ltd.
Mr Nuno D'Aquino stepped down in September to focus on other
interests. New appointments to the Board were; Mr Stanley Gold
of Shamrock Holdings Inc, and Mr Peter Barnes, formerly
President of Philip Morris Asia Inc.
The new appointments bring considerable business acumen to the
Company and will assist in steering the Company on its new path
as a major player in the global healthcare industry.
With the restructuring now complete, Mr Tony Daniels stepped
aside as Acting Managing Director and CEO at the end of
December, a position which he took over in April. His
contributions during this period were exceptional. Dr Tweddell
is assisting management in the interim and until the appointment
of a new CEO is completed.
LITIGATION
Simplot Australia Pty Ltd (Simplot) instituted proceedings
against the Company and other Group Companies in the Supreme
Court of Victoria in relation to the sale of the Edgell-Birds'
Eye and Herbert Adams Bakeries businesses. Simplot has claimed
$20.8 million in damages in relation to alleged breaches of
warranty. In 2001, Simplot separately sought unspecified damages
in respect of separate alleged breaches of the Trade Practices
Act. The matter remains at the preliminary stage and the
substantive issues of the claim are unlikely to proceed to trial
this year. The Company believes that it has good grounds for
resisting these protracted claims.
Pacific Dunlop Holdings (USA) Inc and other Group Entities have
instituted proceedings against Exide Corporation, the purchaser
of the GNB business, to recover an amount of approximately
US$20.1 million ($39.3 million), due to the Group in connection
with the sale of the GNB business and as a consequence of
contractual obligations between the Group and Exide. Exide is
currently resisting this claim. The Group will continue to
aggressively pursue this claim to recover the amounts owed.
FINANCE
Late in 2001 a number of bank debt facilities matured and were
repaid using the proceeds of asset sales. At the same time a new
facility for US$100 million was put in place. The facility has a
term of three years and will be used for general funding
purposes.
The Company's balance sheet has been strengthened significantly
by the sale of businesses and non-core assets. Net Debt (Current
and Non Current Interest Bearing Liabilities less Cash) was
reduced from $1.3 billion (excludes Restricted Deposits and Non
Current Interest Bearing Loans included in Non Current
Receivables) to $435 million in the half, a reduction of
approximately $865 million. Gearing (Net Debt:Net Debt & Equity)
is now at a more conservative level of 31.3%, compared to the 30
June, 2001 level of 55.4%. The Company is now in a strong
position, both financially and strategically.
Net cash provided by Operating activities in the period was
$39.3 million, compared to the previous corresponding period's
$64.3 million. The current period includes one-off payments
totaling $78.7 million associated with the restructuring of
Ansell, Pacific Brands and the closure of the Engineered
Products operations. This compares to $17.2 million in the
previous corresponding period. Ansell's working capital was
reduced by $37.3 million, which exceeded the capital expenditure
and restructuring capital used by Ansell of $32.0 million.
The write-downs are substantially non-cash. These were as
follows:
* On the sale of the GNB battery business to Exide in
$M September 2000, the Group received USD 333 million plus
4 million Exide Technology shares with a market value of USD
9.0625 per share. The value of these shares at 31 December, 2001
was USD 1.23 per share, and they have been written down to this
level (61.5)
* There are two Ansell related write-downs:
(i) The Troy USA manufacturing facility. See Page 3 (63.9)
(ii) Land and buildings written-down as a result of the
restructuring of Ansell's operations in America and the downturn
in real-estate values of the facilities being exited
(9.0)
* Loss on Sale of Pacific Automotive (9.2)
* Gain on acquisition of Ambri Shares 8.5
* Gain on Sale of Pacific Brands 21.0
* The write down of Australian tax timing differences unable to
be recouped due to the sale of Pacific Brands (15.2)
* Other, including write down of leasehold improvements on
exited properties and head office restructuring costs (17.9)
$(147.2)
Note: Of the $147.2 million write-down, $135.5 million is non-
cash. The cash costs are $8.2 million related to the closure of
the Troy manufacturing facility, and $3.5 million primarily in
Head Office restructuring.
OUTLOOK
The Board is fully cognizant of the fact that shareholders have
been extremely disappointed in the performance of the Group in
recent years. The steps taken to refocus the Group, including
the sale of businesses, reduction of debt and management
changes, in conjunction with the strategy review, the intended
appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer and a strong growth
plan, should result in an outcome in keeping with a commitment
to increase shareholder value.
The outlook for the coming half is for continuing improvement.
The benefits of the Ansell restructuring in the US (including
the transfer of most manufacturing to Asia and Mexico) and
Europe (reorganization of the European businesses) are expected
to flow through in the fourth quarter, and the forecast pick up
in the world economy at that time should also produce greater
opportunity. Ansell's full year results are anticipated to be
ahead of last year.
For further information:
Diana Holt
CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Tel: (+613) 9270 7185
================================
C H I N A & H O N G K O N G
================================
401 HOLDINGS: Winding-Up Petition Dismissed
-------------------------------------------
The Board of Directors of 401 Holdings Limited, further to its
announcements dated 11th December, 2001 and 6th February, 2002
in relation to the Petition filed against the Company by Gold
Metro on 30th November, 2001, announced that the Petition was
heard at The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region on 6th February, 2002 and subsequently adjourned to 11th
February, 2002 and was dismissed. Although the Company believes
that it has strong grounds to defend the Petition, for
commercial reasons, the Company has redeemed the bond issued to
Gold Metro on 11th February, 2002 and has settled all moneys
owing to Gold Metro and accordingly, the Petition was dismissed.
The cost of the Petition is reserved.
THE AGREEMENT
Date : 11th February, 2002
Parties : (a) the Subscriber, White Opal Holdings
Limited; and (b) the Company
Terms : The Company has agreed to issue and the
Subscriber has agreed to subscribe for the Bond.
Consideration:
HK$4,000,000The Consideration was satisfied by the Subscriber in
cash and was paid to the Company in full as deposit on the date
of the Agreement and will be held by the Company as deposit
until completion of the Agreement. The Consideration was
determined by both parties on the basis of arm's length
negotiations. The Directors consider that the Consideration to
be fair and reasonable. Assuming conversion of the Bond in full,
the 400,000,000 Conversion Shares (based on a conversion price
of HK$0.01) represent approximately 2.67% of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of the Company as at the date hereof and
approximately 2.60% of the issued ordinary share capital of the
Company, as enlarged by the issue of the Conversion Shares
(assuming that up to the date of issue of the Conversion Shares,
there has been no change in the issued share capital of the
Company).The Conversion Shares will be issued pursuant to the
general mandate to the Directors at the Company's annual general
meeting on 29th August, 2001.
CONDITIONS PRECEDENT
Completion of the Agreement is conditional upon, inter alia:
(i) the Stock Exchange granting listing approval for the
Conversion Shares under the Bond;
(ii) the Bermuda Monetary Authority granting permission
for the issue of the Bond and the free transferability of the
Conversion Shares under the Bond; and
(iii) all other approvals (if any) to be granted by the
appropriate authorities.
OTHER TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT
If the conditions precedent of the Agreement is not fulfilled on
or before the expiry of 30 days after the date of the Agreement
(the "Long Stop Date") (or such later date as may be agreed
between the Subscriber and the Company), the Agreement will
lapse and become null and void and the Company shall refund the
Consideration together with an interest at a rate of 2 percent
per annum above the prime lending rate as quoted by the Hong
Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited from time to time
to the Subscriber within 7 days after the expiry of the Long
Stop Date (or such later date as may be agreed between the
Subscriber and the Company).
THE SUBSCRIBER
As at the date of this Announcement, the Subscriber hold an
aggregate of 117,820,344 Shares in the Company, representing
approximately 0.79% of the existing issued ordinary share
capital of the Company and approximately 0.77% of the issued
ordinary share capital enlarged by the issue of the Conversion
Shares will fall to be issued by the Company upon full
conversion of the Bond at the initial Conversion Price (assuming
that up to the date of issue of the Conversion Shares, there has
been no change in the issued share capital of the Company). The
Subscriber is the holder of a secured convertible bond in the
Company in a principal amount of HK$2,700,000 and a creditor of
the Company.
As at the date of this Announcement, if the secured convertible
bond held by the Subscriber are fully converted at its
conversion price of HK$0.0203 per share, the Subscriber will be
issued 133,004,926 Shares, representing approximately 0.89% of
the existing issued ordinary share capital of the Company and
approximately 0.86% of the issued ordinary share capital
enlarged by the issue of the Conversion Shares which will fall
to be issued by the Company upon full conversion of the Bond at
the initial Conversion Price and the issue of the conversion
shares upon full conversion of the secured convertible bond held
by the Subscriber (assuming that up to the date of issue of the
Conversion Shares, there has been no change in the issued share
capital of the Company). The Subscriber and its beneficial
owners are Independent Third Parties.
PRINCIPAL TERMS OF THE BOND
Aggregate principal amount:
The aggregate principal amount of the Bond will be HK$4,000,000.
Interest:
The Bond will bear interest from the date of issue at the rate
per annum of 2 per cent per annum above the prime lending rate
published by The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
Limited from time to time, of the principal amount of the Bond
outstanding, which will be payable by the Company quarterly in
arrears. The first payment shall be made on the date falling
three calendar months after the date of issue of the Bond.
Repayment date:
The final date of repayment will be the Maturity Date. However,
the Company may at any time redeem all or part of the
outstanding principal amount of the Bond after giving not less
than thirty days' written notice to the Bondholder(s). There is
no penalty against the Company for redemption of all or part of
the outstanding principal amount of the Bond.
Conversion:
The initial conversion price will be HK$0.01 per Share, subject
to adjustment, and was agreed after arm's length negotiations.
Subject to the other terms of the Bond, the Bondholder has the
right to convert (to the extent not already redeemed) up to the
maximum principal amount of the Bond into Conversion Shares at
any time prior to the redemption of the Bond.
The initial conversion price of HK$0.01 represents the average
closing price per Share of HK$0.01 for the last five trading
days immediately preceding the suspension of trading of Shares
on 11th February, 2002.
Conversion Rights may only be exercised in respect of 1,000,000
Conversion Shares or integral multiples thereof or if the
remaining outstanding amount is less than HK$250,000, in the
entire outstanding amount. Fractions of Shares will not be
issued on conversion and no cash adjustment will be made in
respect thereof.
Shares to be issued upon conversion:
The Conversion Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with
the Shares in issue at the date of conversion.
400,000,000 Conversion Shares (assuming a conversion price of
HK$0.01), representing approximately 2.67% of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of the Company and approximately
2.60% of the issued ordinary share capital enlarged by the issue
of the Conversion Shares which will fall to be issued by the
Company upon full conversion of the Bond at the initial
Conversion Price (assuming that up to the date of issue of the
Conversion Shares, there has been no change in the issued share
capital of the Company).
The Conversion Shares will be issued under the general mandate
granted to the Directors at the Company's annual general meeting
on 29th August, 2001.
Redeemability
The Bondholder can require the Company to redeem the Bond at any
time after the date of issue of the Bond but before the Maturity
Date by giving the Company not less than 30 days' written notice
at the following redemption amount:
(1) if the redemption request by the Bondholder is given
to the Company within the period of 12 months from the date of
issue of the Bond, the Company may, instead of redeeming the
Bond in cash, elect to satisfy the redemption by the issue of
such number of new Shares as shall equal the quotient of the sum
total of (a) the principal amount of the Bond to be redeemed;
and (b) a redemption premium at 100% of such principal amount,
divided by the conversion price in effect on the redemption date
specified by the Bondholder in the redemption request;
(2) if the redemption request is made after the period
of 12 months from the date of issue of the Bond, the Company
shall only redeem the Bond in cash on the redemption date
specified by the Bondholder in the redemption request.
The Company is entitled to redeem all or any part of the
outstanding principal amount of the Bond in cash by giving not
less than 30 day's written notice.
Voting rights of the Bondholder(s):
The Bondholder(s) will not be entitled to receive notices of,
attend or vote at any meeting of the Company by reason only of
it being the Bondholder(s).
Transferability:
The Bond is transferable or assignable subject to full
compliance with (i) relevant provisions of the Listing Rules;
(ii) the approval for listing in respect of the Conversion
Shares and (iii) all applicable laws and regulations. Any
assignment or transfer of the Bond shall be in respect of the
whole of the outstanding principal amount of the Bond. The
Company undertakes to inform the Stock Exchange immediately if
it comes to its notice that any of the Bond is proposed to be
transferred to or dealt with by a connected person of the
Company (as defined in the Listing Rules).
Events of Default:
Any Bondholder may demand repayment of the principal amount of
the Bond together with accrued interest calculated up to and
including the repayment date immediately upon the occurrence of
the certain events such as (i) the failure of the Company to pay
the principal amount when due or failure of the Company to pay
interest on the Bond when due unless non-payment of such
interest is due solely to administrative or technical error and
payment is made within seven days of the due date thereof; (ii)
the failure of the Company to comply with any of its obligations
under the terms and conditions of the Bond entered into between
the Company and the Bondholder(s) and which default is incapable
of remedy; (iii) an order made or an effective resolution passed
for winding-up of the Company; or (iv) the Shares cease to be
listed on the Stock Exchange or are suspended from trading on
the Stock Exchange for a continuous period of 20 trading days
due to the default of the Company.
Listing:
No listing of the Bond will be sought on the Stock Exchange or
any other stock exchanges. Application will be made to the
Listing Committee of the Stock Exchange for the listing of, and
permission to deal in, the Conversion Shares.
PRINCIPAL BUSINESS
The Company is principally engaged in investments, freight
forwarding business and providing property services and logistic
services.
REASONS FOR THE BOND AND USE OF PROCEEDS
The issue of the Bond is to use the net proceeds of
approximately HK$4,000,000 for reducing certain existing debt of
the Group.
The net proceeds raised from the issue of the Bond are intended
to be used for reducing certain existing debt of the Group.
Although the Company received cash from the issue of the Bond,
the amount received is equal to the principal amount of the
Bond. As a result, the Directors consider that there are no
material adverse change to the financial position as a result of
the issue of the Bond. Accordingly, the Directors consider that
the issue of the Bond is in the best interests of the
Shareholders.
The Company also confirms that the position regarding the
consents from the Remaining Bond Holders (as defined in the
First Announcement) and the status of the outstanding litigation
of Group as set out in the First Announcement remains unchanged
(save for the dismissal of the Petition). Save for the issue of
the Bond as aforesaid, there has been no material change in the
financial position of the Group since the First and Second
Announcements.
GENERAL
Application will be made to the Stock Exchange for listing of
and permission to deal in the Conversion Shares under the Bond.
At the request of the Company, trading in the Company's Shares
was suspended on 11th February, 2002 at 10:00 am. Application
has been made to the Stock Exchange for the resumption of
trading of the Company's Shares on 19th February, 2002 effective
from 10:00 am.
DEFINITIONS
"Agreement" a Bond subscription agreement between the Company
and the Subscriber dated 11th February, 2002;
"Bond" an interest bearing convertible bond in the
aggregate principal amount of HK$4,000,000, at an interest rate
of 2 per cent per annum above the prime lending rate published
by The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited from
time to time, of the principal amount of the Bond outstanding,
to be issued by the Company at the conversion price of HK$0.01
per Share, with a repayment date on the Maturity Date;
"Bondholder" the person who is for the time being the
holder of a Bond;
"Company" 401 Holdings Limited;
"Completion" completion of the Agreement;
"Consideration" HK$4,000,000, satisfied by the Subscriber in
cash;
"Conversion Rights" the rights attached to the Bond to
convert the principal amount or a part thereof into Shares;
"Conversion Shares" the Shares to be issued by the Company
under the Bond (upon exercise by a Bondholder of the Conversion
Rights);
"Directors" directors of the Company;
"First Announcement" the announcement of the Company dated
11th January, 2002;
"Gold Metro" Gold Metro Finance Limited;
"Independent Third Party" an independent third party not
connected with the Directors, chief executive or substantial
shareholders of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or their
respective associates as defined under the Listing Rules;
"Issue Date" the date of issue of the Bond;
"Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities
on the Stock Exchange;
"Maturity Date" the second anniversary date from the date of
issue of the Bond;
"Petition" the winding-up petition filed against the Company on
30th November, 2001 by Gold Metro;
"Second Announcement" the announcement of the Company dated
6th February, 2002;
"Shares" ordinary shares of HK$0.01 each in the share capital
of the Company;
"Shareholders" shareholders of the Company;
"Subscriber" White Opal Holdings Limited, an Independent
Third Party;
GLAD HOME: Winding Up Petition Slated For Hearing
-------------------------------------------------
The petition to wind up Glad Home Limited is scheduled to be
heard before the High Court of Hong Kong on February 27, 2002 at
9:30 am. The petition was filed with the court on November 20,
2001 by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue of Hong Kong of
Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
HIMDAT FINANCE: Winding Up Petition To Be Heard
-----------------------------------------------
The petition to wind up Himdat Finance Company Limited is
scheduled for hearing before the High Court of Hong Kong on
February 20, 2002 at 11:30 am.
The petition was filed with the court on November 20, 2001 by
Hongkong Macau International Finance Company Limited (In
Member's Voluntary Liquidation) whose registered office is
situate at 48th Floor, Office Tower, Convention Plaza, 1 Harbour
Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
KEY CONTROL: Winding Up Petition Hearing Set
--------------------------------------------
The petition to wind up Key Control Trading Limited is scheduled
for hearing before the High Court of Hong Kong on April 17, 2002
at 9:30 am.
The petition was filed with the court on January 22, 2002 by
Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, a banking corporation duly
incorporated in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region whose
registered office is situated at 14th Floor, Bank of China
Tower, 1 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong.
LUCKY APEX: Hearing of Winding Up Petition Docketed
---------------------------------------------------
The petition to wind up Lucky Apex Industrial Limited will be
heard before the High Court of Hong Kong on February 27, 2002 at
9:30 am. The petition was filed with the court on November 20,
2001 by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue of Hong Kong of
Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
PROFIT SONIC: Petition To Wind Up Scheduled
-------------------------------------------
The petition to wind up Profit Sonic Limited is set for hearing
before the High Court of Hong Kong on February 27, 2002 at 9:30
am. The petition was filed with the court on November 20, 2001
by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue of Hong Kong of Revenue
Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
V-TEX GARMENTS: Winding Up Sought By Hung Ming
----------------------------------------------
Hung Ming Ho Company Limited is seeking the winding up of V-Tex
Garments Limited. The petition was filed on December 22, 2001,
and will be heard before the High Court of Hong Kong on March
13, 2002 at 9:30 am.
Hung Ming holds its registered office at No. 6, 12th Floor, Wing
Fung Industrial Building, 40-50 Sha Tsui Road, Tsuen Wan, New
Territories, Hong Kong.
=================
I N D O N E S I A
=================
BANK CENTRAL: IBRA Reviews Bidder's Proposed Terms, Conditions
--------------------------------------------------------------
With regards to the plan by Indonesian Bank Restructuring agency
(IBRA) to divest its BCA shares, at the moment a process is
underway to clarify and review the terms and conditions proposed
by BCA bidders as stipulated in the Sale & Purchase Agreement
("SPA"), which the bidders submitted in their final bid to IBRA
on 28 January 2002. IBRA has not yet signed up the SPA.
IBRA is conducting the clarification to find out more detailed
information fro, the bidders about the terms and conditions that
the bidders forwarded through their SPA. In practice, the
clarification process does not negate the possibility for the
bidders to propose amendments to the terms and conditions as an
improvement step from the previous points. Based on the
clarification as well as the proposed amendment points, IBRA
will conduct an in-depth review before selecting the names,
which offer the most in benefits to the Government/IBRA.
The points of consideration for IBRA to accept the terms and
conditions from the bidders depend on the requests they
forwarded; as far as the interest of the Government/IBRA can be
protected and the proceeds of BCA divestment can be optimal.
The process of clarification and review on the terms and
conditions submitted by the bidders in a transaction with a
strategic sale method is a common practice. It is therefore
incorrect to inform that there has been an amendment to the SPA,
which are submitted by the BCA bidders. At this time, there is
not any agreement on the terms and conditions forwarded by the
Bidders and IBRA has not yet signed the SPA with any bidder.
MEDIA GROUP: Debt Restructuring Finalized
-----------------------------------------
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has completed
the debt restructuring of Media group obligor by restructuring 2
(two) subsidiary companies namely PT Citrasarana Graharealty
Corporation and PT Bakti Citra Daya. IBRA and the aforementioned
debtors signed the Debt Restructuring Agreement (PRH) in the
beginning of February 2002.
1. PT Citrasarana Graharealty Corporation
The company, operational in the developer (property) industry,
had a debt obligation to IBRA (former Bank BNI)
US$24,276,488,40,-. The total debt consist of principal
US$21,079,440,- and an interest of US$3,197,048,4 after
recalculation.
The total debt US$24,276,488,40,- was converted to term loan (3
years) and interest rate 10,5% p.a. (floating).
2. PT Bakti Citra Daya
The company, operational in holding property and supplier, had a
debt obligation to IBRA (former Bank BRI) Rp17,325,500,000. The
total debt consist of debt principal Rp10,000,000,000 and an
interest of Rp7,325,500,000,- after recalculation.
The total debt of PT Bakti Citra Daya is restructured with
scheme as follow:
Cash settlement Rp1,000,000,000
Term Loan Rp9,000,000,000 will be settled installed during 7
years without grace period; interest 18% p.a. (floating)
Past due interest Rp7,325,500,000 will be paid during 3 years
without grace period.
Under IBRA, the Media group obligor comprised of 3 debtors.
Aside from the two debtors being restructured, another debtor,
PT Surya Persindo has also completed its debt obligation of
Rp702,298,098 in a cash settlement on 3 November 2000.
=========
J A P A N
=========
ASAHI BANK: LSE, SSE Shares Delisted
------------------------------------
The Asahi Bank, Ltd. (the Bank) announced on October 26, 2001
that it would apply for the delisting of its shares from the
London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Swiss Stock Exchange (SSE).
The Bank announced that the delisting of its shares from the
London Stock Exchange and the Swiss Stock Exchange was effected
February 15, 2002.
DAIWA SECURITIES: Moody's Lowers Rating To Baa2 Outlook Negative
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has lowered on Tuesday the long-term
issuer rating of Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd. (Daiwa) to Baa2 from
Baa1, and the long-term debt rating of Daiwa Securities Group
Inc. (DSG) to Baa3 from Baa2. Also lowered are the long-term
debt ratings of overseas subsidiaries guaranteed by DSG (Daiwa
America Corp., Daiwa Securities Trust & Banking plc, and Daiwa
Europe Finance B.V.). Credit ratings of Daiwa Securities SMBC
Co., Ltd. (Daiwa Securities SMBC) were not affected by this
review. Rating outlook remains negative for Daiwa, DSG, and
Daiwa Securities SMBC. These actions conclude the review
initiated on October 26, 2001.
Moody's believes that DSG's weak liquidity management resources
are further constrained by the possible impact from absorbing
funding requirements associated with the purchase of large
assets from Daiwa Asset Management's managed MMF. DSG also has
refinancing responsibility arising from its subsidiaries,
including Daiwa Real Estate Co., Ltd.. While accelerated asset
reduction initiatives (both inside and outside Japan) may help
reduce the scale of possible refinancing pressure for DSG, asset
reduction efforts may take an extended period of time to
complete.
Moody's says that the negative rating outlook reflects the
remaining higher level of uncertainty as to both Daiwa and Daiwa
Securities SMBC's ability to recover their weak profitability in
the current operating environment, and the highly constrained
intrinsic liquidity resources of DSG.
The following ratings were downgraded:
Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd. -- long-term issuer rating to Baa2
from Baa1
Daiwa Securities Group Inc. -- long-term unsecured senior debt
rating to Baa3 from Baa2
Daiwa America Corp. -- long-term unsecured senior long-term debt
rating to Baa3 from Baa2
Daiwa Securities Trust & Banking (Europe) plc -- long-term
unsecured senior debt rating to Baa3 from Baa2 and subordinated
long-term debt rating to Ba1 from Baa3
Daiwa Europe Finance B.V. -- long-term senior debt rating to
Baa3 from Baa2
The following rating were not included in the review:
Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd. -- Prime-2 short-term issuer rating.
Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., Ltd. -- Baa1/Prime-2 long-term and
short-term issuer ratings.
NEC CORP: Receives Blade Server Order From GSIC
-----------------------------------------------
NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) disclosed
on Monday that it received an order for large-scale blade server
system from Global Scientific Information and Computing Center
in Tokyo Institute of Technology (GSIC). NEC's blade server
system will be used as the platform of GSIC's Grid computing
project.
The system consists of 800 CPUs (400 servers) including 752 CPUs
(376 servers) of "Express5800/BladeServer" and will be the
Japan's first Grid computing system using blade servers.
GSIC has been promoting campus-wide commodity Grid computing
project which aims to make full use of computers and storage
systems installed in 13 locations throughout the institute by
connecting them via campus gigabit network infrastructure.
Through the project, GSIC will conduct research and development
in the areas of next generation high performance computing and
computational science. The system will be the basic platform of
this project, called "Titech Campus Grid Infrastructure," and
will start operation from March 2002.
GSIC will, through the "Titech Campus Grid Infrastructure",
deploy Grid-enabled middleware and application software and
experiment its operatability. GSIC will make the fruit of the
project open, and will contribute, through the relation with
other related projects outside of institute, to establish Grid
computing technology which realize large-scale virtual parallel
computer at low cost.
"For the Titech Campus Grid Infrastructure, achieving high-
performance, space and thermal efficiency, as well as high
price/performance ratio using commodity technology were of
utmost technical significance", said Prof. Satoshi Matsuoka, the
HPC group leader at GSIC, "this is especially serious because
the project mandates that the Grid nodes located in remote
departments are often subject to severe space and thermal
constraints. For this purpose, simple usage of commodity PC
technology would have been insufficient. NEC provided the best
technical solution for us with its high-performance and high-
density blade technology which doubles the performance / space
ratio over traditional 1U servers. We pride ourselves in being
one of the leading sites of Grid computing, and quite happy that
NEC is partnering with us in the technical endeavor of what we
believe to be the future high-performance computing
infrastructure."
NEC considers this order is the result of the high valuation of
its total solution capabilities, including comprehensive
performance that enables to set up stable operation of large
system in short period, and the provision of collective remote
management and operation of computers in multiple locations,
together with the benefit of its blade server products which
realize energy and space saving system. Regarding this order as
a milestone, NEC continues to offer blade server-based various
solutions .
The outline of "Titech Campus Grid Infrastructure" is shown in
attached sheet.
About Tokyo Institute of Technology(Titech)
Tokyo Institute of Technology is the leading national technical
university established by the Japanese government in 1881. All
faculty members with the exception of part-time lecturers and
visiting professors are government employees with permanent
tenure. The facilities and equipment are owned by the government
and operated at national expense. As of May 1, 2000, the total
number of staff members is 1,771, including 700 professors; the
number of undergraduate students is 5,297 and of graduate
students 4,490. In Fiscal 1999 (April 1999 - March 2000) the
annual expenses amounted to 35,917 million yen excluding the
grant-in-aid for Scientific Research of the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(Monbukagakusho).
Titech home page at: http://www.titech.ac.jp/,the GSIC home
page at: http://www.gsic.titech.ac.jp/
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) is a leading
provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the
specialized needs of its customers in the key computer, network
and electron device fields through its three market-focused in-
house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron
Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house companies, employs
approximately 150,000 people worldwide and saw net sales of
5,410 billion Yen (approx. US$43 billion) in fiscal year 2000-
2001. For further information, please visit the NEC home page
at: http://www.nec.com
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS
From Semiannual Report 2001 (Year ended September 30, 2001)
In this business climate, consolidated net sales were Y2,468.0
billion ($20,740 million), a decline of 0.4 percent compared
with the same period a year ago. The significant factor behind
this sales decrease was a 34 percent decline in sales at NEC
Electron Devices, which together with a 5 percent decline in
sales at NEC Solutions offset a 36 percent increase in sales at
NEC Networks.
NEC recorded a loss before income taxes of Y34.3 billion ($288
million), a Y69.7 billion decline from the same period of the
previous year, in which the company posted income be-fore income
taxes of Y35.4 billion ($298 million). This loss was principally
attributable to a substantial decrease in aggregate segment
profit, discussed in detail in the following section. As a
consequence, NEC recorded a net loss of Y29.9 billion ($251
million), representing a year-on-year decline of Y50.4 billion.
NIPPON TELEGRAPH: Reaches Agreement With Hitachi, Matsushita
-----------------------------------------------------------
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT; Head Office: Chiyoda-
ku, Tokyo; President: Junichiro Miyazu), Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi;
Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Etsuhiko Shoyama),
and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Matsushita; Head
Office: Kadoma City, Osaka; President: Kunio Nakamura) have
reached an agreement on Tuesday to begin joint research
targeting the development of "HIKARI Commerce Services" from
February 2002. These next-generation E-commerce services, which
are oriented toward network-compatible home appliances, make use
of the ultra high-speed, wide bandwidth characteristics of optic
networks.
These joint research activities are intended to create, at an
early date, a "Commerce-oriented HIKARI service platform"(*1)
(hereafter referred to as the "HIKARI Commerce Platform") that
is essential to providing convenient, comfortable HIKARI
Commerce services at a low cost. The three companies will
conduct joint research into core protocols that will enable
interactive connections linking terminals (such as Internet
appliances), optic networks, other networks, and servers via
high-speed optic networks, opening the way for two key
"commercial space operation technologies" that take advantage of
the optic environments developed by NTT: a "Visual Shopping
Environment" for regular home users, and a "Visual Showcase
Environment" for business users. The specifications for the
protocols developed will be made available to manufacturers of
servers and home appliances; at the same time, function
verifications and other tests will be conducted to confirm the
effectiveness of these protocols.
With regard to the HIKARI Commerce Platform, the three companies
plan to invite a broad range of business partners interested in
developing E-commerce business to participate in cooperative
activities targeting "HIKARI Market Creation."
1. Ongoing Activities at NTT, Hitachi, and Matsushita
Optic networks and other high-speed, broadband telecommunication
networks are rapidly being established, and we are gradually
entering an era in which it will be possible to distribute huge
volumes of information with ease.
In the midst of these trends, NTT has been developing
information sharing platforms and commercial space operation
technologies that make use of the special features of optic
networks, which offer such merits as high-quality image
communications, high-speed acquisition of information from
multiple locations, and real-time interaction. NTT has also been
involved in "Optic Market Creation Activities" (*2) aimed at
spurring new demand, in cooperation with advanced companies in
various fields.
Hitachi has been conducting technological developments in
various related fields, including network server systems that
will support optic services and dramatically improve content
distribution performance, as well as technologies related to
service quality assurance.
Matsushita, meanwhile, has been involved in technological
development geared toward opening up new service markets
targeting network appliances, taking advantage of the high-speed
characteristics of optic networks.
The three companies have come to a common awareness of the need
to combine their respective activities and create a HIKARI
Commerce Platform that will facilitate a merging of the mutual
capabilities of terminals and network servers, using the high-
speed characteristics of optic broadband technologies.
2. Joint Protocol Research (Ref. Fig 1)
NTT, Hitachi, and Matsushita believe that in order to achieve
convenient, comfortable, low-cost HIKARI Commerce Services, it
will be essential to develop a HIKARI Commerce Platform with
mutual links between terminals, networks, and servers.
For this reason, the current joint research will focus on
development of protocols for conducting negotiations required to
confirm the performance of terminals that will allow users to
enjoy these services and to secure the necessary resources from
within networks. Using these protocols, it will be possible to
allocate many resources in business-oriented terminals to
quickly send large volumes of information, and at the same time
to send information in volumes appropriate for the performance
of easy-to-use home terminals, thus ensuring comfortable
operations for users.
In terms of the development of these protocols, NTT will
contribute commercial space operation technologies that make use
of optic environments; Hitachi will bring network server control
technologies required to assure image service quality and
increase system scale; and Matsushita will bring network
appliance service technologies, with a particular focus on
digital TV.
The development of these protocols will make it possible to
organically and efficiently connect business users and regular
home users on the "HIKARI Commerce Platform" using the "Visual
Shopping Environment" and the "Visual Showcase Environment." The
protocols will also support business partners in the creation of
new business models worthy of the "era of optic technologies,"
and at the same time will enable smooth business developments
for the future.
3. What are HIKARI Commerce Services? (Ref. Fig 2)
In the case of traditional E-commerce applications, the user
faced a number of limitations; for example, even once the target
product was located, it was difficult to quickly find other
related products, and there were limits to the amount of
detailed product information that could be accessed. The usage
environment also tended to focus on PCs, which presented a
problem with regard to ease of use.
"Real Commerce" presents a number of dilemmas as well; for
example, there are limits to the amount of real space available
for product displays, and it is difficult to show the products
in a variety of combinations and patterns.
"HIKARI Commerce Services" feature a visual shopping environment
for regular users and a visual showcase environment for business
users to overcome the problems mentioned above.
The visual shopping environment offers a number of functions,
including "window shopping" and "moving catalogs." The Window
Shopping function displays not only the target product, but a
variety of other related products at the same time, so that the
user can find attractive products that they might not even have
known existed, even from their own living room. The "Moving
Catalogs" function allows the user to view moving parts on
products, and to interactively confirm more detailed information
on product features. By accessing these services from Internet
appliances and other terminals, anyone can easily enjoy shopping
in an environment that is much more familiar than traditional
PCs.
Meanwhile, the visual showcase environment offers tools for
catalog registration, product registration, and display
planning. The catalog registration tool enables the business
user to set conditions for catalog use, and to conduct block
registration of product information. The product registration
and display planning tools enable the same users to conduct a
number of processes easily, including product display planning
using 3D virtual space and registration of product attribute
information and information on multiple-product combinations. In
this way, product information can be generated with less effort,
popular products and products targeted for sales can be
displayed in more prominent positions, and related products can
be displayed nearby.
4. Plans for the Future
The protocol specifications 3/4 which will represent the first
stage of research results 3/4 will be published in April of this
year.
Once the specifications have been published, the three companies
will invite a broad range of home appliance and server
manufacturers to participate in function verification tests, in
order to confirm the effectiveness of the HIKARI Commerce
Platform.
At the same time, with regard to the HIKARI Commerce Platform,
the three companies plan to invite a broad range of business
partners interested in developing E-commerce business to
participate in cooperative activities targeting "HIKARI Market
Creation."
(Explanation of Terms)
*1: Commerce-oriented HIKARI Service Platform
In the context of NTT's research activities, the Japanese word
"HIKARI," meaning light or optics, takes on a new meaning,
encompassing physical light, the software and hardware
technologies essential to the era of optics, and new services
(including optic software services and ubiquitous services)
created through optic technologies and the melding of optic and
wireless technologies.
The "Commerce-oriented HIKARI Service Platform" is designed to
make these services a reality in the field of E-commerce. It
provides a venue for the safe, worry-free information sharing,
while vertically and organically integrating various elements of
the E-commerce environment, including information sharing
platforms that ensure comfortable exchanges of video images,
Internet appliances and other devices capable of receiving
contents in large quantities, and technologies that will enable
management and operation of a "visual commercial space."
*2: HIKARI Market Creation Activities
NTT announced the start of HIKARI Market Creation Activities in
November 2000. These activities are designed to open up new
demand and create new markets related to optic technologies, by
cooperating with partners in various industries to provide
customers around the world with new information sharing services
(HIKARI software services) worthy of the era of optic
technologies 3/4 taking full advantage of the unique
characteristics of optic networks such as "high-speed, broadband
environments," "interactivity," and "multi-media integration "
3/4 by having users provide evaluations of these services.
(http://www.NTT.co.jp/news/news00/0011/001128.html)
About Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6752), best known
for its Panasonic, National, Technics, and Quasar brand names,
is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of
electronics products for a wide range of consumer, business, and
industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded
consolidated sales of US$61.45 billion for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2001. In addition to the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
Matsushita's shares are listed on the Amsterdam, Dusseldorf,
Frankfurt, New York (NYSE: MC), Pacific, and Paris stock
exchanges.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501 / NYSE: HIT) headquartered in Tokyo,
Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics
companies, with fiscal 2000 (ended March 31, 2001) consolidated
sales of 8,417 billion yen ($67.9 billion*) The company
manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including
computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and
industrial equipment.
About Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (TSE: 9432)(NYSE:
NTT) was established in 1952 as a state-owned telecommunications
public corporation and in 1986 converted to a private company to
be the largest telecommunications company in Japan and the
second largest in the world. NTT and its subsidiaries provide a
wide range of telecommunications services.
Source: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Contact:
NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group Planning Division
Izuka, Sano, Ikeda (in charge of PR activities) Tel: 0422-59-
3663 E-mail:koho@mail.rdc.ntt.co.jp Hitachi, Ltd. Corporate
Communications Headquarters Public Relations Division;
Minamikawa Tel: 03-3258-2055 Products & Technology PR Team
Public Relations Group Corporate Communication Division
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Asano Tel: 03-3459-9164
The Telecommunications Ministry will inspect Nippon Telegraph &
Telephone Corporation's (NTT) operations as part of the
government's three-year reorganization of the telephone giant,
TCR-AP reported Monday. The government's reorganization of NTT
introduced a new system in July 1999 that formed an NTT holding
company and units, NTT East Corp., NTT West Corp. and NTT
Communications Corp.
NISSAN MOTOR: Welcomes Ghosn to Alcoa's Board Of Directors
----------------------------------------------------------
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced on February 18 that Carlos Ghosn, 47,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.,
has been elected to Alcoa's Board of Directors. There are now 11
directors on Alcoa's board.
In making the announcement, Alcoa Chairman Alain Belda said,
"Mr. Ghosn adds to Alcoa's board his keen understanding of the
automotive market, which is one of our major market segments,
his management skills that resulted in the significant
turnaround of Nissan, and his global exposure."
Mr. Ghosn was elected President and Chief Executive Officer of
Nissan in 2001. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer
since 1999. From 1996 until 1999, Mr. Ghosn was Executive Vice
President of Renault France. Renault owns 36.8 percent of
Nissan. From 1978 to 1996 Mr. Ghosn served in various capacities
with Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin in the U.S.
and Brazil, including Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Michelin North America, Inc., from 1990 to 1996.
Mr. Ghosn was educated in France where he received engineering
degrees from Ecole Polytechnique in 1974 and Ecole des Mines de
Paris in 1978.
CONTACT: Alcoa
David Neurohr, 724/832-2656
www.alcoa.com
About Alcoa
Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum,
fabricated aluminum, and alumina. The company is active in all
major aspects of the industry-technology, mining, refining,
smelting, fabricating, and recycling.
Alcoa's aluminum products and components are used worldwide in
aircraft, automobiles, beverage cans, buildings, chemicals,
sports and recreation, and a wide variety of industrial and
consumer applications, including Alcoa's own consumer brands
such as Alcoa wheels, Reynolds Wrapr aluminum foil and Baco
household wraps.
Related businesses include packaging machinery, precision
castings, vinyl siding, plastic bottles and closures, fiber
optic cables, and electrical distribution systems for cars and
trucks.
Vital statistics: 142,000 Alcoans in 37 countries, $22.9 billion
in revenues, and in 2000 it was 5 times safer to work at Alcoa
than it was in 1990.
TCR-AP reported earlier this week that Nissan Motor Co Ltd would
rehire some workers it fired during its drastic restructuring
most of whom were dismissed under the company's staff reduction
efforts in 1999-2001 as it prepares for the launch of 12 new
vehicles worldwide in the coming fiscal year. Confirming its
comeback from the brink of bankruptcy three years ago, Nissan
will meet the profit and debt-slashing targets of its current
three-year revival plan by March.
TOSHIBA CORP: Develops RISC-Microprocessor With MIPS
----------------------------------------------------
Toshiba Corporation, one of Japan's largest electronics
companies and Japan's leader in semiconductors, and MIPS
Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS, MIPSB), a leading provider of
industry-standard processor architectures and cores for embedded
applications, announced on Tuesday that they have agreed to
jointly develop a next generation 64-bit microprocessor (TX-99)
based on an enhanced MIPS(R) core (code named: Amethyst).
Toshiba's TX99 is intended to be the highest performance
standard for 64-bit embedded microprocessor products and will
give semiconductor and system OEMs the highest performance
available for cost- and power-sensitive embedded applications,
such as automotive telematics, office automation, multimedia
home gateways, digital consumer products and networking.
"We are delighted to undertake this joint-development project
with MIPS Technologies," said Katsuji Fujita, Corporate Vice
President of Toshiba Corporation and Executive Vice President of
the System LSI Division at Toshiba's Semiconductor Company. "The
opportunities offered by this joint development will allow us to
realize the earliest introduction of the industry's highest
performing embedded microprocessor and provide our customers
with differentiated technical support in the RISC microprocessor
and RISC embedded System on Chip (SoC) businesses. In response
to increased demand for system support from customers, Toshiba,
as a system solution provider, will further reinforce its system
and software support capabilities. As the result of Toshiba's
and MIPS Technologies' strong commitment to promote this
microprocessor, we have already seen two TX99-based SoC design
wins, for automotive telematics and office automation
applications. We expect to cement our leadership in the SoC
business by providing state-of-the-art TX99 products as well as
platform and software support."
"The TX99 products will feature the MIPS-3D ASE (application
specific extension) for efficient execution of multimedia tasks
by future digital consumer products. This will allow Toshiba to
offer the best solutions in the emerging digital consumer
market. We plan to advance the operating frequency to over
1GHz," said Toshinori Moriyasu, General Manager of
Microprocessor Division at Toshiba's Semiconductor Company.
ArTile Microsystems, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba
America Electronic Components, Inc., will also join this
program.
Tomohisa Shigematsu, Chief Executive Officer of ArTile, said:
"ArTile already develops application specific standard products
and SoC based on the TX79 core, and TX99 is positioned to
succeed this as an enhanced microprocessor core. Utilizing our
scalable design methodology, we will provide our customers in
the U.S. with standard products and custom SoC solutions based
on TX99 core with full-scale technical support."
"The joint development effort with Toshiba and MIPS Technologies
will leverage the strengths of each company to develop industry-
leading products," said John Bourgoin, chairman and CEO of MIPS
Technologies. "All of Toshiba's and MIPS Technologies' customers
will benefit from the result of this collaboration, and we
anticipate this venture will open up new markets for our
respective companies."
"The `Amethyst' core will give systems designers the highest
performance available in licensable IP for 0.10 micron process
technology and beyond, while offering the low-power
characteristics and low overall product cost," said Derek Meyer,
Vice President of worldwide field operations at MIPS
Technologies. "It will meet the requirements of the most
demanding embedded applications and be fully compatible with our
32-bit architecture and cores, giving customers a seamless
migration path to 64-bit processing."
Development tools and applications software will be available
from numerous third-party suppliers, including Algorithmics,
Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics, Microsoft, MontaVista,
Red Hat and Wind River. In addition, the MIPS(TM) Alliance
Program (MAP) supports the availability of critical hardware and
software such as 802.11, Bluetooth, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, audio
algorithms, ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), VoIP and
networking protocol stacks.
Toshiba will support development of custom RISC embedded SoCs
for applications in such areas as automotive, networking, office
automation and digital consumer products, fully utilizing
technology know-how cultivated in the joint development of the
TX99 microprocessor. Toshiba will launch its initial product in
the first quarter of 2003 and bring a TX99-based general
microprocessor to market by the end of 2003.
MIPS(R) is a registered trademark in the United States and other
countries, and MIPS64(TM), Amethyst and MIPS-based(TM) are
trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks
referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Toshiba Corporation
Kenichi Sugiyama, +81-3-3457-2105
press@toshiba.co.jp
or
MIPS Technologies, Inc.
Lee Garvin Flanagin, 650/567-5180
flanagin@mips.com
or
ArTile Microsystems
Basheer Ahmed, 408/526-2750
Basheer.Ahmed@artilemicro.com
Moody's Investors Service on February 8 assigned a Baa1 rating
to Toshiba Corporation's (Toshiba) Y30 billion domestic
unsecured straight bonds due on 2005. The rating outlook is
negative. The negative rating outlook reflects Moody's concern
that Toshiba lacks a range of competitive products as profitable
as its DRAM and notebook PCs in the past. The current steep
downturn in the global IT market and a delay in the
restructuring of its DRAM (dynamic random access memory)
division have severely affected Toshiba's profitability.
=========
K O R E A
=========
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR: Micron Wants Decision by February End
----------------------------------------------------------
Micron Technology requested Hynix Semiconductor and its lenders
to decide by next week whether to continue negotiations and
accept $4 billion in sale price of the chipmaker's core assets,
Reuters reported on Monday, citing an unnamed creditor official
from Hanvit Bank.
Reports said that Micron is more interested in Hynix' core
memory business than the non-memory unit. An overall deal could
be worth some $4 billion. Hynix shares continued their fall for
a fourth straight session last week, pressured by uncertainty
surrounding the firm's restructuring drive.
Micron was not immediately available to verify the report.
HYNIX SEMICON: Needs Micron's Independent Survival Assurance
------------------------------------------------------------
Hynix Semiconductor Inc.'s Board of Directors said Micron
Technology Inc. should ensure that a much-reduced Hynix is able
to stand on its own by directly investing in the struggling
Korean chipmaker after an alliance deal is sealed, according to
Korea Herald on Tuesday.
Hynix CEO Park Chong-sup earlier said Micron was willing to
invest about $4 billion to purchase all of Hynix' memory chip
operations and possibly other parts of the Company.
The Board also put emphasis on the fact that its members are now
reviewing the option of breaking off talks with Micron and
attempting to survive without any alliance, which is favored by
retail investors and Hynix workers.
HYUNDAI HEAVY: Decides Separation Date From Parent Group
--------------------------------------------------------
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd (HHI) will hold a Board of
Directors meeting on February 19 to decide on exactly when it
will file an application for the planned separation from the
Hyundai Group, AFX News said Monday, quoting an unnamed company
spokesman.
According to the report the Company has met all regulatory
requirements to separate itself from the group, except that it
must still lessen its 24.84 percent stake in Hyundai Asan Corp
to below 15 percent. Under Fair Trade Commission (FTC) rules,
Hyundai Heavy should cut its stake in any other affiliate within
the group to below 15 percent.
The spokesman said that HHI would file an application for the
disaffiliation with the FTC after it cuts its stake in Hyundai
Asan to below 15 percent. According to Yonhap News the company
might file a formal application with the FTC next week.
HYUNDAI MOTOR: Denies Reports of SUV Talks With DaimlerChrysler
---------------------------------------------------------------
South Korea's top auto-maker, Hyundai Motor Co, denied a
newspaper report from Korea Economic Daily that it was in talks
with DaimlerChrysler AG to build a joint venture plant in the
United States to make engines for sports utility vehicles
(SUVs), Reuters said Monday, citing company spokesman Park Sang-
Woo.
Hyundai aims to increase its U.S. sales to 370,000 vehicles this
year from 346,000 in 2001. Last week, Hyundai said
DaimlerChrysler was expected to go ahead with an earlier plan to
launch a commercial truck joint venture by the end of 2002.
DebtTraders reports that Hyundai Motor's 7.600% bond due in 2007
(HYNM07KRS1) trades between 103.656 and 104.159. For real-time
bond pricing, go to
http://www.debttraders.com/price.cfm?dt_sec_ticker=HYNM07KRS1
===============
M A L A Y S I A
===============
ACTACORP HOLDINGS: Receives Discharge Letter From CDRC
------------------------------------------------------
Actacorp Holding Berhad (AHB or the Company) announced that on
18 February 2002 the Company received a letter from Corporate
Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) stating that it has been
discharged from CDRC and any debt restructuring exercise and
will no longer be under the purview of CDRC.
The Company will proceed to negotiate with individual lenders
towards the finalization of its Debt Restructuring Scheme.
AHB submitted a debt restructuring proposal involving a white
knight in August 2001. However, AHB, its creditors and the white
knight have been unable to agree on the terms of the
restructuring which have been delayed beyond the agreed
deadline. Apart from this, the white knight has since withdrawn
from the proposed scheme.
In this regard, CDRC, at the request of the creditors, has
discharged AHB from its purview. As such, any further
negotiations between AHB and its creditors will take place
outside the auspices of the CDRC.
CHASE PERDANA: Rights Issues Proceeds, As Time Is Extended
----------------------------------------------------------
Chase Perdana Berhad (CPB) announced that the Securities
Commission (SC) had, via its letter dated 15 February 2002,
approved an extension of time for the utilization of the
remainder of the proceeds from the Proposed Rights Issue which
was completed on 6 July 1999 as an:
(i) Extension of time for 12 months until 5 February 2003 for
RM6,693,000 to be utilized for the working capital for the
construction of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Phase 2); and
(ii) Extension of time for 12 months until 16 February 2003 for
RM23,000,000 to be utilized for part repayment of bank
borrowings.
The approval by the SC is subject to the condition that the
remainder of the proceeds is to be placed in a fixed deposit
account with a financial institution until it is utilized for
purposes as approved above. Documentary evidence relating to the
fixed deposit must be submitted to the SC.
HAI MING: Appoints New Chief Executive Officer
----------------------------------------------
Hai Ming Holdings Bhd posted this notice:
Date of change : 18/02/2002
Type of change : Appointment Boardroom
Designation : Director
Directorate : Independent & Non Executive
Name : See Wee Chern @ See Chan Wee Chern
Age : 47
Nationality : Malaysian
Qualifications :
1975 - Bachelor of Science (University of Brandon, Manitoba,
Canada);
1979 - Masters of Business Administration (University of McGill,
Montreal, Canada)
Working experience and occupation :
1984 - Dec 1987: Assistant to Managing Director in UMW Berhad, a
company involved in heavy equipment, car assembly, construction
and trading,
1988 - 1993: General Manager/ Director in Man Shoon Group, a
Group of companies involved in construction and trading,
1994 - now: Managing Director of Lotus Worldwide Sdn Bhd and
IPEC Sdn Bhd, both companies involved in trading of construction
materials.
Directorship of public companies (if any) : None
Family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder
of the listed issuer : No family relationship with any Directors
and/ or major shareholders of the listed issuer.
Details of any interest in the securities of the listed issuer
or its subsidiaries : None
TCR-AP reported last month the details of the Hai Ming's
Proposed Restructuring Exercise which, encompassed these
proposals:
(i) Proposed settlement of debts owing to secured and
unsecured bank lenders amounting to RM53,588,638 (Proposed Debt
Settlement); and
(ii) Proposed acquisition of the entire equity interest in
Koh Poh Seng Plywood Co. (M) Sdn Bhd for a purchase
consideration of RM99,800,000 to be satisfied by the issuance of
99,800,000 new ordinary shares of RM1.00 each in HMHB (HMHB
Shares) (Initial Proposed Acquisition of KPSSB); and
(iii) Proposed waiver to the vendors of KPSSB from the
obligation to extend a mandatory take-over offer for the
remaining HMHB Shares not already owned by them in HMHB upon
completion of the Proposed Acquisition of KPSSB.
MALAYSIAN TOBACCO: Obtains Proposed Acquisition Approvals
---------------------------------------------------------
Malaysian Tobacco Company Berhad (MTC or Company) has procured
all necessary approvals for the implementation of the Proposed
Acquisition of the entire equity interest in Binariang Satellite
Systems Sdn Bhd by the Company from MEASAT Global Network
Systems Sdn Bhd (MGNS) (Proposed Acquisition of Binariang
Satellite) and the Company is presently in the midst of
finalizing the Circular in relation to the Proposed Acquisition
of Binariang Satellite to be dispatched to the shareholders of
the Company in due course.
On 21 December 2001, Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bank Berhad (Arab-
Malaysian), on behalf of the Company, announced that MTC had on
14 December 2001 received the Securities Commission's (SC)
approval on the Proposed Acquisition of Binariang Satellite.
However, the SC's approval was subject to, inter-alia, the
157,433,155 new MTC shares which are to be issued to MGNS
pursuant to the Proposed Acquisition of Binariang Satellite
being placed under moratorium. MGNS will not be allowed to sell,
transfer or assign these shares until the Company's third
satellite, MEASAT-3 is launched, operational and contributes
profits and cashflow to Binariang Satellite for two (2)
consecutive years, to be verified by the external auditors of
MTC/Binariang Satellite. Thereafter, MGNS is allowed to sell,
transfer or assign only one-third (1/3) of the shares it holds
under moratorium for every subsequent year.
On 14 January 2002, Arab-Malaysian, on behalf of the Company,
announced that MGNS had submitted an appeal to the SC against
the abovementioned moratorium condition.
On behalf of the Company, Arab-Malaysian announced that the SC
did not approve MGNS's appeal. On the other hand, the SC has
approved Binariang Satellite's proposed revision to certain
terms of the RM1.2 billion Islamic private debt securities issue
undertaken by Binariang Satellite on 28 February 2001 pursuant
to the Proposed Acquisition of Binariang Satellite.
The Company, on 30 January 2002, submitted an application to the
Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) for a further extension of
one (1) month from 12 February 2002 to 12 March 2002 to procure
the remaining requisite approvals for the Proposed Acquisition
of Binariang Satellite. On behalf of MTC, Arab-Malaysian
announced that the KLSE has approved the Company's extension of
time application.
PAN MALAYSIAN: Soo Lay Buys Shares During Closed Period
-------------------------------------------------------
Pan Malaysian Industries Berhad (PMIB) informed that, pursuant
to paragraph 14.08(c) of the Listing Requirements of Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange, Soo Lay Holdings Sdn Bhd (Soo Lay) had
informed PMIB that Soo Lay purchased the ordinary shares of
PMIB:
1) Date of dealing - 18 February 2002
2) Consideration of dealing - Average price of RM0.2600 per
share
3) Number of shares acquired - 65,000 ordinary shares of RM0.50
each
4) Percentage of issued share capital of PMIB - 0.003%
The PMI Group is involved in a wide range of activities in
Malaysia and overseas through its subsidiaries and associates.
Group operations are located in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong,
China, Australia, the UK, Europe, India and North America.
Among the PMI Group is 44.2 percent owned listed company Malayan
United Industries (MUI), and 61.84 percent owned Metrojaya, also
listed. MUI has interests ranging from, among others, retailing,
hotels, food and confectionery, property, construction,
financial services, manufacturing and trading, travel and
tourism and educational services.
MUI owns 42.88 percent of Laura Ashley Holdings plc, a company
listed on the London Stock Exchange. Metrojaya operates
departmental stores, specialty stores and hypermarkets.
The Group, including its associated company, MUI, is continuing
its efforts to consolidate and rationalize its operations to
strengthen its position. Such efforts include, amongst others,
restructuring undertaken by Pan Malaysia Holdings, Pan Malaysia
Capital and certain of its subsidiaries and the disposal of non-
core assets by the MUI Group.
PARK MAY: Enters HOA Proposals With KKMB, Renong
------------------------------------------------
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Park May Berhad (Park May
or the Company), Aseambankers Malaysia Berhad (Aseambankers)
announced that the Company had on 18 February 2002 entered into
a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Kumpulan Kenderaan Malaysia
Berhad (KKMB) and Renong Berhad in respect of the Proposals. The
Proposals refers to:
* proposed acquisitions of nine (9) companies from KKMB for
an indicative purchase consideration of rm128.0 million to be
satisfied by an issuance of 128.0 million new ordinary shares of
rm1.00 each in park may at par ("Proposed Acquisitions");
* proposed application for exemption by KKMB from the
obligation to make a mandatory general offer for the remaining
park may shares not held by KKMB after the Proposed Acquisitions
(Proposed Exemption);
* proposed restricted offer for sale (ROS) / placement of
27,437,800 ordinary shares of rm1.00 each in park may at par by
Renong Berhad to the minority shareholders of park may and
identified placees (Proposed ROS / Placement); and
* proposed public issue / private placement of 10,000,000 new
ordinary shares of rm1.00 each in park may at par (Proposed
Public Issue / Private Placement).
Details of the Proposed Acquisitions
Proposed Acquisitions of Nine (9) Companies from KKMB
Pursuant to the abovementioned HOA, Park May proposes to
acquire:
(i) 18,000 ordinary shares of RM10.00 each representing 100%
equity interest in Kenderaan Langkasuka Sdn Bhd ("Langkasuka");
(ii) 7,600,250 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
100% equity interest in Kenderaan Klang Banting Berhad ("KB");
(iii) 381,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
100% equity interest in Kenderaan Labu Sendayan Sdn Berhad
("Labu");
(iv) 60,002 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing 100%
equity interest in Starise Sdn Berhad ("Starise");
(v) 605,002 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing 100%
equity interest in Syarikat Rembau Tampin Sdn Berhad ("RT");
(vi) 8,920,002 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
99.1% equity interest in Transnasional Express Sdn Berhad
("Transnasional");
(vii) 6,922,950 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
95.6% equity interest and 200,000 cumulative redeemable
preference shares of RM1.00 each in Syarikat Kenderaan Melayu
Kelantan Berhad ("SKMKB");
(viii) 1,036,137 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
98.2% equity interest in Syarikat Tanjong Keramat Temerloh Utara
Omnibus Berhad ("Keramat"); and
(ix) 12,804,967 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each representing
100% equity interest in Ekspress Nasional Berhad ("ENB"),
(collectively referred to as the "Acquiree Companies")
for an indicative total consideration of RM128,000,000
("Indicative Purchase Consideration"), which is to be satisfied
by the issuance of 128,000,000 new ordinary shares of RM1.00
each in Park May to be issued at par ("New Shares").
The Proposed Acquisitions will result in the reverse-take over
of Park May by KKMB, who in turn would emerge as Park May's new
controlling shareholder, and the listing of the abovementioned
Acquiree Companies via Park May.
Shares Acquired Free From Encumbrances
The shares to be acquired pursuant to the Proposed Acquisitions
shall be acquired free from all liens, charges, equities and
encumbrances and together with all rights now or hereafter
attaching thereto including and without limitation to all
bonuses, rights, dividends and other distributions declared,
paid or made in respect thereafter.
Basis of Determining the Indicative Purchase Consideration and
the Issue Price of the New Shares For The Proposed Acquisitions
The Indicative Purchase Consideration of RM128,000,000 is based
on a 'willing-buyer willing seller' basis, after taking into
consideration, the valuation of the Acquiree Companies, which is
based on a price earnings multiple of eight (8) times the
weighted average maintainable profits after tax of the Acquiree
Companies for six (6) years from 31 December 1999 to 31 December
2004 of RM15,915,020.
As such, the Indicative Purchase Consideration will be satisfied
with the issuance of the New Shares.
The issue price for the new ordinary shares of Park May to be
issued pursuant to the Proposed Acquisitions of RM1.00 per share
represents a premium of 3.6% over the 5 days weighted average
market price of RM0.965 per share as at 8 February 2002, the
last trading day prior to the suspension of Park May's shares.
Status of the New Shares
All the 128,000,000 new ordinary shares of RM1.00 each to be
issued pursuant to the Proposed Acquisitions will, upon
allotment and issue, rank pari passu in all respects with the
then existing ordinary shares of Park May, except that they will
not be entitled to any dividends, rights, allotments or other
distributions declared prior to the date of allotment of the
Park May shares.
Liabilities To Be Assumed By Park May
There are no liabilities to be assumed by Park May in respect of
the Proposed Acquisitions, save for the liabilities outstanding
in the books of the Acquiree Companies at the time of the
transfer of the Acquiree Companies to Park May.
Brief Information On The Acquiree Companies
Information on Langkasuka
Langkasuka was incorporated as a private limited company on 30
October 1964 in Malaysia under the Companies Ordinances, 1940-
1946. Langkasuka has an authorized share capital of RM250,000
divided into 25,000 ordinary shares of RM10.00 each of which
18,000 ordinary shares of RM10.00 each has been issued and paid-
up.
Langkasuka is a wholly owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in
turn wholly owned by Nadicorp Holdings Sdn Bhd ("NHSB"). The
present directors of Langkasuka are Ab Rashid bin Hj Musa and
Tan Swee Hock.
The company is principally involved in bus service operations.
The company ceased operations in 1995 and resumed operations in
year 2001.
Information on KB
KB was incorporated as a private limited company on 29 December
1973 in Malaysia under the Companies Ordinances, 1940-1946. KB
has an authorized share capital of RM10,000,000 divided into
10,000,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 7,600,250
ordinary shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up.
KB is a wholly owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn wholly
owned by NHSB. The present directors of KB are Ab Rashid bin Hj
Musa, Tan Swee Hock and Azami @ Azmi bin Abdul Talib.
The company is principally involved in the provision of public
bus transportation services.
Information on Labu
Labu was incorporated as a private limited company on 7 March
1974 in Malaysia under the Companies Ordinances, 1940-1946. Labu
has an authorized share capital of RM500,000 divided into
500,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 381,000 ordinary
shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up.
Labu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn
wholly-owned by NHSB. The present directors of Labu are Ab
Rashid bin Hj Musa and Tan Swee Hock.
The company is principally involved in bus service operations in
Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
Information on Starise
Starise was incorporated as a private limited company on 9
February 1985 in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965. Starise
has an authorized share capital of RM200,000 divided into
200,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 60,002 ordinary
shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up.
Starise is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn
wholly-owned by NHSB. The present directors of Starise are Ab
Rashid bin Hj Musa and Tan Swee Hock.
The company is principally involved in the operation of stage
bus services.
Information on RT
RT was incorporated as a private limited company on 3 June 1976
in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965. RT has an authorized
share capital of RM1,000,000 divided into 1,000,000 ordinary
shares of RM1.00 each of which 605,002 ordinary shares of RM1.00
each have been issued and paid-up.
RT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn
wholly-owned by NHSB. The present directors of RT are Ab Rashid
bin Hj Musa and Tan Swee Hock.
The Company is principally involved in bus service operations in
Negeri Sembilan and Johor.
Information on Transnasional
Transnasional was incorporated as a private limited company on
16 December 1994 in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965.
Transnasional has an authorized share capital of RM50,000,000
divided into 50,000,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which
9,000,002 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and
paid-up.
Transnasional, by virtue of KKMB's 99.1% shareholdings in
Transnasional, is a subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn wholly-
owned by NHSB. The present directors of Transnasional are Ab
Rashid bin Hj Musa and Tan Swee Hock.
The Company is principally involved in the operations of express
bus services.
Information on SKMKB
SKMKB was incorporated as a private limited company on 2
February 1947 in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965. SKMKB
has an authorized share capital of RM9,750,000 divided into
9,750,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 7,250,620
ordinary shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up, as
well as 200,000 cumulative redeemable preference shares of
RM1.00 each.
SKMKB, by virtue of KKMB's 95.6% shareholdings in SKMKB, is a
subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn wholly-owned by NHSB. The
present directors of SKMKB are Dato' Mohd Nadzmi bin Mohd
Salleh, and Ab Rashid bin Hj Musa.
The Company is principally involved in passenger and express bus
service operations.
Information on Keramat
Keramat was incorporated as a private limited company on 20
October 1960 in Malaysia under the Companies Ordinances, 1940-
1946. Keramat has an authorized share capital of RM2,000,000
divided into 2,000,000 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which
1,054,653 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and
paid-up.
Keramat, by virtue of KKMB's 98.2% shareholdings in Keramat, is
a subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn wholly-owned by NHSB. The
present directors of Keramat are Ab Rashid bin Hj Musa and Tan
Swee Hock.
The Company is principally involved in the operations of express
bus services.
Information on ENB
ENB was incorporated as a private limited company on 10 February
1972 in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965. ENB has an
authorized share capital of RM15,000,000 divided into 15,000,000
ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 12,804,967 ordinary
shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up.
ENB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KKMB, which is in turn
wholly-owned by NHSB. The present directors of ENB are Ab Rashid
bin Hj Musa and Tan Swee Hock.
The Company is an investment holding company, while its 51%
owned sole subsidiary, Sistem Kenderaan Seremban-Kuala Lumpur
Sdn Bhd is principally involved in express bus service
operations.
Brief Information On KKMB
KKMB was incorporated as a private limited company on 7 March
1974 in Malaysia under the Companies Act, 1965. KKMB has an
authorized share capital of RM50,000,000 divided into 50,000,000
ordinary shares of RM1.00 each of which 45,001,788 ordinary
shares of RM1.00 each have been issued and paid-up.
KKMB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NHSB. The present directors
of KKMB are Dato' Mohd Nadzmi bin Mohd Salleh, Tan Swee Hock and
Ab Rashid bin Hj Musa.
The Company is principally an investment holding company.
PROPOSED EXEMPTION FROM MANDATORY GENERAL OFFER
Upon completion of the Proposed Acquisitions, KKMB will
collectively hold, indicatively, 128,000,000 Park May new
ordinary shares representing 63.68% equity interest in Park May.
Pursuant to Section 33B(2) of the Securities Commission Act,
1993 and Section 6(4) of the Malaysian Code on Take-overs and
Merger 1998 ("Code"), KKMB would be obliged to extend a
mandatory general offer to acquire the remaining shares in Park
May not owned by them after the Proposed Acquisitions.
As such, Aseambankers, on behalf of KKMB, will seek an exemption
from the SC from the obligation to make a mandatory general
offer under Practice Note 2.9.1 of the Code.
PROPOSED ROS/PLACEMENT
As part of the HOA, Renong Berhad ("Renong"), which is currently
one of Park May's substantial shareholders, proposes to
undertake a proposed restricted offer for sale and placement
exercise of an aggregate of 27,437,800 ordinary shares of RM1.00
each in Park May at par to the minority shareholders of Park May
and placees to be identified, upon completion of the Proposed
Acquisitions. The Proposed ROS/Placement are to be on terms and
conditions acceptable to Renong and would be subject to the
approval of the relevant authorities and shareholders of Renong.
It will also be subjected to the entire 27,437,800 ordinary
shares in Park May to be underwritten.
PROPOSED PUBLIC ISSUE / PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Details Of The Proposed Public Issue / Private Placement
The Proposed Public Issue / Private Placement will entail an
issuance of 10,000,000 new ordinary shares of RM1.00 each in
Park May at par ("Public Issue/Private Placement New Shares")
representing not more than 10% of the Company's indicative
issued and paid-up share capital after the Proposed Acquisitions
of 201,005,822 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each.
Status Of The Public Issue/Private Placement New Shares
All 10,000,000 new ordinary shares of RM1.00 each to be issued
pursuant to the Proposed Public Issue/Private Placement will,
upon allotment and issue, rank pari passu in all respects with
the then existing ordinary shares of Park May, except that they
will not be entitled to any dividends, rights, allotments or
other distributions declared prior to the date of allotment of
the Public Issue/Private Placement New Shares.
Basis Of Pricing of the Public Issue/Private Placement New
Shares
The issue price for the new ordinary shares of Park May to be
issued pursuant to the Proposed Public Issue/Private Placement
of RM1.00 per share is at par.
RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSALS
The Proposed Acquisitions is expected to bring about synergistic
benefits to Park May, thus enhancing the future earnings and
cashflows of Park May in the long term. In addition, the
Proposed Acquisitions would also provide KKMB the opportunity to
achieve a listing for the Acquiree Companies via Park May.
The Proposed ROS/Placement and Proposed Public Issue/Private
Placement would enable Park May to meet the public spread under
the KLSE Listing Requirements.
At the same time, the Proposed Acquisitions, Proposed
ROS/Placement and Proposed Public Issue/Private Placement would
also provide the opportunity for the existing shareholders of
Park May to participate in the potential growth of Park May
after the completion of the Proposals.
In addition, the proceeds from the Proposed Public Issue/Private
Placement will be utilized to finance the working capital
requirements of the enlarged Park May group.
FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF THE PROPOSALS
The Proposed Exemption and the Proposed ROS/Placement will not
have any effect on the share capital, major shareholders'
shareholdings, consolidated earnings per share ("EPS") and
consolidated net tangible assets ("NTA") of Park May.
However, the proforma financial effects of the Proposed
Acquistions on the share capital, major shareholders'
shareholdings, consolidated EPS and consolidated NTA of Park May
are illustrated below:
Earnings
The Proposals are anticipated to significantly enhance the
profitability and contribute positively to the consolidated
earnings of Park May in future years.
NTA
The proforma NTA of Park May is expected to increase from RM0.12
as at the audited financial year ended 30 June 2001 to RM0.34
upon completion of the Proposals.
Dividends
No dividend was declared for the financial year ended 30 June
2001. The Board of Directors of Park May do not anticipate any
dividends to be declared for the financial year ended 30 June
2002.
PROSPECTS AND RISKS FACTORS IN RELATION TO THE PROPOSED
ACQUISITIONS
The Acquiree Companies are involved in the bus service
operations similar to those of Park May. As such, the Acquiree
Companies are also subject to certain risks inherent in the
transportation industries as follows:
(a) the transportation business is a labor intensive
industry, whereby the degree of which such automation can
substitute human resources is rather limited. Thus, the Acquiree
Companies are susceptible to the risk of shortages in labor;
(b) the Acquiree Companies face stiff competition from other
bus service operators, especially in terms of pricing. While the
Acquiree Companies will continue to offer quality and efficient
transportation services to the public, there can be no assurance
that the Acquiree Companies will be able to maintain the volume
of passengers transported in the future; and
(c) the Acquiree Companies also face a risk of a reduction in
the demand for public bus services, mainly due to the rising
affluence of the population and extensive network of new roads
which encourages the ownership of private vehicles, as well as
the new modes of public transport such as the rail-based systems
gradually gaining acceptance from the commuting public.
Nevertheless, it is anticipated that the bus service operations
of the Acquiree Companies would complement the existing bus
operations of Park May and bring about synergistic benefits to
the Company in the medium to long term future.
CONDITIONS PRECEDENT
The Proposals are conditional upon the following:
(a) approval of the KLSE for the listing of the New Shares
and the Public Issue/Private Placement New Shares;
(b) approval of the Securities Commission ("SC") for the
Proposals;
(c) exemption granted by the SC to KKMB on the obligation
pursuant to Practice Note 2.9.1 of the Malaysian Code on Take-
Overs and Mergers, 1998;
(d) the approval of the shareholders at a general meeting of
Park May to:
(i) approve the purchase of the Acquiree Companies from
KKMB;
(ii) issue and allot to KKMB the New Shares to satisfy the
Purchase Consideration for the Acquiree Companies; and
(iii) approve the exemption on the mandatory general offer
by KKMB pursuant to the Practice Note 2.9.1 of the Malaysian
Code on Take-overs and Mergers, 1998; and
(iv) approve the Proposed Public Issue/Private Placement;
(e) the approval of the shareholders at a general meeting of
Renong on the Proposed ROS/Placement;
(f) completion of a due diligence review of the Acquiree
Companies and Park May to the satisfaction of Park May and KKMB;
(g) the execution of the Underwriting Agreement pertaining to
the underwriting of the entire 27,347,800 ordinary shares of
RM1.00 in Park May, as mentioned in Section 4 above;
(h) the approvals of the lenders of Park May and Renong (if
required);
(i) the approval from any relevant third party which may be
required by KKMB, Park May and Renong; and
(j) the approval of any other relevant authorities.
DIRECTORS AND MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS' INTERESTS
None of the Directors, major shareholders and/or persons
connected with them have any interest, direct or indirect, in
the Proposals.
DIRECTORS' RECOMMENDATION
The Board, having taken into consideration all aspects of the
Proposals, is of the opinion that the Proposals are fair,
reasonable and in the best interests of Park May.
DOCUMENTS FOR INSPECTION
The HOA is available for inspection at the registered office of
Park May at Lot 18115, Batu 5, Jalan Kelang Lama, 58100, Kuala
Lumpur during normal business hours from the date of this
announcement up to and including the date of Park May's
forthcoming EGM to be convened.
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR COMPLETION OF PROPOSALS
Applications to the relevant authorities for the Proposals are
expected to be made within three (3) months from the date of the
Share Sale Agreement, which is required to be executed by the
Parties within one (1) month from the date of the HOA. The
Proposals are estimated to be completed within nine (9) months
from the date of the application being made.
COMPLIANCE WITH THE SECURITIES COMMISSION'S POLICIES AND
GUIDELINES ON ISSUE/OFFER OF SECURITIES
To the best knowledge of the Directors of Park May, the
Proposals have not departed from the said Policies and
Guidelines.
PROJEK USAHASAMA: Updates Defaulted Payment Status
--------------------------------------------------
Renong Berhad (Renong) earlier announced that Projek Usahasama
Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA), a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Renong, has been served with a statutory demand
notice pursuant to section 218 of the Companies Act 1965 for the
payment of the outstanding amount of RM 2.34 billion under
Commercial Financing Facilities (Statutory Demand).
In response to the Statutory Demand, PUTRA had, vide its letter
dated 17 January 2002, notified the Government of Malaysia
(Government) of the receipt by PUTRA of the same and its
inability to repay the demanded amount and, thus, requested the
Government to procure a qualifying substitute or itself purchase
all assets of PUTRA in accordance with the terms of the
Concession Agreement with the Government dated 7 August 1995.
PUTRA had also, on the same date, informed the solicitors of the
facility agent that discussion is currently underway between the
Government, Renong and PUTRA with the objective of facilitating
a smooth takeover of the light rail transit system.
RNC CORPORATION: Posts Change in Boardroom Notice
-------------------------------------------------
RNC Corporation Berhad (RNC) posted this notice:
Date of change : 09/02/2002
Type of change : Demised Boardroom
Designation : Director
Directorate : Non Independent & Non Executive
Name : LAI WENG KONG
Age : 54
Nationality : MALAYSIAN
Qualifications : N/A
Working experience and occupation : N/A
Directorship of public companies (if any) : AUSTRAL AMALGAMATED
BERHAD
Family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder
of the listed issuer : N/A
Details of any interest in the securities of the listed issuer
or its subsidiaries : N/A
RNC CORPORATION: SC Approves Aliran Ihsan's Debt Waiver
-------------------------------------------------------
On behalf of the Special Administrators of RNC Corporation
Berhad (Special Administrators Appointed) (RNC), in reference to
the Proposals, Affin Merchant Bank Berhad announced that the
Securities Commission vide its letter dated 8 February 2002
(which was received on 15 February 2002), had approved the
waiver to Aliran Ihsan Resources Berhad (formerly known as
Aliran Ihsan Resources Sdn Bhd and also formerly known as Equity
Promenade Sdn Bhd) from the obligation to extend a mandatory
general offer for the remaining 10,200,000 ordinary shares of
RM1.00 each representing 51% equity interest in Equiventures Sdn
Bhd (ESB) not already owned by them upon completion of the
proposed acquisition of 49% equity interest in ESB under the
practice note 2.9.6 of the Malaysian Code on Take-Overs and
Mergers 1998.
The "Proposals" comprises:
* Proposed Capital Reconstruction;
* Proposed Group Reorganization;
* Proposed Debt Settlement;
* Proposed Rights Issue;
* Proposed Acquisitions;
* Proposed Distribution;
* Proposed Exemption;
* Proposed Restricted Offer for Sale; and
* Proposed Transfer to Main Board.
SOUTHERN PLASTIC: Remains in Payment Default
--------------------------------------------
Southern Plastic Holdings Berhad and the Group are still in
default of payments towards their bank borrowings (both
principal and interest) from certain financial institutions.
This was a result of the respective banks' actions in freezing
the bank borrowing facilities of the Group and the Company in
view of the Company's proposal of an informal restructuring
scheme. The bank borrowings of the Group and Company comprise
overdrafts, trade lines, and term loans.
The Board of Directors will circulate a revised proposal to the
financial institutions this week. Further negotiations with the
financial institutions are expected to take place. The Board
will announce the Scheme in due course upon the finalization of
negotiation with the respective financial institutions.
Several financial institutions had taken legal actions to claim
the overdue amounts from the Group and the Company. The Company
is a corporate guarantor for certain of these amounts involved.
The contingent liabilities with respect to these corporate
guarantees amount to RM71 million. The Board is confident of the
success of the negotiation with the bankers and does not foresee
the crystallization of the corporate guarantees. The board has
employed qualified legal advisors to look into these claims to
protect the Group and the Company from legal suits in order for
the proposed restructuring scheme to be implemented.
SPORTMA CORPORATION: Defaulted Payment Stands at RM212,644,235
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sportma Corporation Berhad (Special Administrators Appointed)
(Sportma or Company) provided an estimate of its default in
payment as at 31 January 2002, as found at
http://www.bankrupt.com/misc/TCRAP_Sportma0219.xls
The total default by Sportma on principal sum plus interest as
at 31 January 2002 amounted to RM212,644,235.92. Sportma in
respect of revolving credit facilities, trade financing and
overdraft utilizes the default payment.
Chemitech Industries Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Sportma had as at 31 January 2002, defaulted on RM616,268.52,
made up of a principal sum of RM470,000.00 plus RM146,268.52 in
interest, in respect of its term loan.
There is no further new development on the default of payment of
the Company, since the previous announcement with regard to this
Practice Note.
TECHNO ASIA: SAs Submit Statutory Declaration to KLSE
-----------------------------------------------------
Techno Asia Holdings Berhad (TAHB or Company)(Special
Administrators (SA) Appointed), pursuant to PN 4/2001 in
relation to paragraph 8.14 of the Revamped Listing Requirements
of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, announced that in compliance
with the obligation imposed under the said practice note, the
monthly report for the month of January 2002 accompanied by the
statutory declaration duly executed by the Special
Administrators (SAs) had been submitted to the KLSE on 18th
February, 2002.
TCR-AP reported last week that TAHB the SAs were appointed to
the Company and its subsidiary company Prima Moulds
Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (PMMSB) by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional
Berhad (Danaharta) pursuant to Section 24 of the Pengurusan
Danaharta Berhad Act 1998 as amended by the Pengurusan Danaharta
Nasional Berhad (Amendment) Act 2000 (Danaharta Act or the Act).
=====================
P H I L I P P I N E S
=====================
NATIONAL BANK: Offers Tax E-Payment Facility
---------------------------------------------
The Philippine National Bank announced on February 12 that it
signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) with the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Treasury (BTR) to
participate as one of only two authorized agent banks in BIR's
Electronic Filing and Payment System (EFPS).
Under the EFPS, taxpayers can electronically file tax returns
and pay taxes through the Internet. BIR's initial market for
EFPS is composed of large corporations.
PNB offers the convenience of electronic payment through its Tax
E-Payment Facility.
To avail of the PNB Tax E-Payment Facility, the taxpayer will
take three easy steps: first enrollment with the BIR for
electronic filing of returns and enrollment with PNB for
electronic tax payment purposes; second, e-filing by accessing
the BIR website for electronic filing of tax returns and for
BIR's online assessment and computation of taxes to be paid; and
finally, e-payment through the PNB website.
The MOA entered into by PNB, BIR and BTR is in line with the
need to implement provisions of Republic Act 8792 or the
Electronic Commerce Act.
The signatories to the MOA are PNB President & CEO Feliciano L.
Miranda, Jr, BIR Commissioner Rene Banez and Treasurer of the
Philippines Eduardo Sergio G. Edeza. Also present during the
signing ceremony is Finance Secretary Jose Isidro N. Camacho.
TCR-AP reported last week that PNB Chairman Norberto Nazareno
disclosed the basis for the reduction of losses in 2001 to P4.5
billion versus P5.97 billion loss in the previous year was due
to the reversal of valuation reserves already booked, after BSP
reduced the valuation reserves for fully secured loans
classified as substandard from 25 percent to 10 percent, as well
as to improved management.
NATIONAL POWER: Red Electrica to Participate Privatization Bid
--------------------------------------------------------------
Spanish electricity transmission system operator, Red Electrica
Espanola, shows interest in bidding for the state-owned power
company National Power Corporation (Napocor), Expansion and
Financial Times reported on Monday, citing Energy Minister
Vicent Perez.
According to Perez a Spanish delegation would be visiting the
country in the a few days to finalize the necessary procedures
to participate in the asset privatization process. The
Philippine government expects the sale of Napocor's transmission
assets to be carried out in July.
DebtTraders reports that National Power Corporation's 9.750%
bond due in 2009 (NATPW6) trades between 97.567 and 98.929. For
real-time bond pricing, go to
http://www.debttraders.com/price.cfm?dt_sec_ticker=NATPW6
PHILIPPINE LONG: Fitch Lowers Senior Unsecured Rating To 'BB-'
--------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, on Monday
downgraded the Senior Unsecured foreign currency rating of
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) to 'BB-' (BB
minus) from BB+ and placed it on Rating Watch Negative.
The rating action reflects PLDT's continuing high leverage
(management estimates that total debt to EBITDA was 5.3x at
December 2001) and the liquidity risk arising from the need to
refinance US$1.34 billion of debt maturing over the period 2002-
2004 (including US$364 million in 2002 alone). Adequate
facilities are not yet in place to supplement cash flow and to
meet those refinancing obligations as and when they fall due and
PLDT presently has limited financial flexibility to address
circumstances that might arise to threaten its position.
Furthermore, the 'BB-' rating is placed on Negative Watch as
Fitch remains concerned about both the need for PLDT to improve
its capital structure and approaching debt maturities. However,
the agency acknowledges PLDT's recent and continuing
negotiations with alternative credit providers and that
management expects a positive outcome. Fitch also notes that the
recently agreed US$149million KfW unsecured loan facility may
only be drawn to repay existing loans to KfW; certain future
draw downs under the facility are subject to PLDT successfully
implementing its other financing initiatives based on a plan and
timetable agreed with KfW.
For the group, debt outstanding at December 2001 totaled about
US$3.3bn, almost double PLDT's current market capitalization of
US$1.7bn. Refinancing obligations over the period 2002-2004 for
the parent alone approximate 80 percent of its market
capitalization, highlighting the inadequate capital structure
that the group has maintained since aggressive competition and
growth necessitated high capex spending before and during 2000
and 2001. Group capex, as a percentage of sales revenue, has
exceeded 40 percent since 1998. However, Fitch expects capex
across the group to diminish during the coming three-year period
as PLDT's management leverages growth from existing
infrastructure and urgently seeks to strengthen the group's
capital structure.
Fitch recognizes that PLDT and its subsidiary Smart
Communications have firmly established, leading positions in the
Philippines within the fixed line and cellular markets
respectively and Smart is keeping pace with the rapidly growing
cellular market and has improved profitability and cash flow as
competitive pressures have eased during the last 12 months.
Overall, PLDT has strengthened its operating position, which it
continues to consolidate. Fitch will continue to monitor closely
any developments concerning PLDT's refinancing initiatives.
Moreover, the agency intends to resolve the Rating Watch after
the outcome of current financing negotiations becomes known and
after it has analyzed the audited fiscal year 2001 accounts. It
anticipates publishing a comprehensive report on the group at
that time.
Contact:
Jonathan Cornish, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2263 9901
Adam Preece, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2263 9559
DebtTraders reports that Philippine Long Distance Telephone's
10.625% bond due in 2004 (PLDT8) trades between 95 and 98. For
real-time bond pricing, go to
http://www.debttraders.com/price.cfm?dt_sec_ticker=PLDT8
=================
S I N G A P O R E
=================
EXCEL MACHINE: Issues Profit Warning
------------------------------------
The Board of Directors of Excel Machine Tools Ltd (the Company
together with its subsidiaries, collectively referred to as the
Group) announced on February 18 an update of the Group's
performance for the second half of 2001.
The Group believes the results for the second half of 2001 would
not be better than the first half due to the continuing
weakening of the global economy, which was further aggravated by
the uncertainty brought about by the 11 September 2001 incident.
As a result, the Group expects to report a significantly lower
turnover for Year 2001 as compared to the previous year. Despite
all the cost cutting efforts, the Group expects to report a loss
for the Year 2001. The full year result for the Year 2001 will
be announced on March 2002.
FHTK HOLDINGS: Posts Notice Of Shareholder's Interest
-----------------------------------------------------
FHTK Holdings Ltd posted a notice of changes in substantial
shareholder Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd's interest:
Date of notice to company: 15 Feb 2002
Date of change of interest: 11 Feb 2002
Name of registered holder: Oversea-Chinese Bank Nominees Private
Limited
Circumstance giving rise to the change: Sales in open market at
own discretion
Shares held in the name of registered holder
No. of shares of the change: 90,000
% of issued share capital: 0.01
Amount of consideration per share excluding brokerage,GST,stamp
duties,clearing fee: S$0.0950
No. of shares held before change: 840,488
% of issued share capital: 0.07
No. of shares held after change: 750,488
% of issued share capital: 0.06
Holdings of Substantial Shareholder including direct and deemed
interest
Deemed Direct
No. of shares held before change: 48,581,292 145,854,667
% of issued share capital: 3.95 11.85
No. of shares held after change: 48,581,292 145,764,667
% of issued share capital: 3.95 11.84
Total shares: 48,581,292 145,764,667
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited direct interest
under registered holder UOB Kay Hian Private Limited is
145,014,179 (11.78%) and registered holder Oversea-Chinese Bank
Nominees Private Limited is 750,488 (0.06%) and deemed interest
under registered holder UOB Kay Hian Private Limited is
46,961,916 (3.82%) and under registered holder Keppel Bank
Nominees Private Limited is 1,619,376 (0.13%). Total interest
after change is 15.79%.
===============
T H A I L A N D
===============
EMC PUBLIC: Posts Rehab Plan Implementation Report
--------------------------------------------------
EMC Public Company Limited reported some progress in
implementation of the rehabilitation plan from November 16, 2001
to February 15, 2002 as:
1. The plan administrator will issue the additional ordinary
shares in the number of 9,570,607 shares to the creditors; Bank
Thai Pcl. in the amount of 5,583,279 shares and Chatuchak Assets
Management Co., Ltd. in the amount of 3,987,328 shares. The
results of the issuing of the ordinary shares is that the
paid-up capital will be Bt537,512,610.
2. The payment for the second payment was December 30, 2001, the
plan administrator had paid the payment in the amount of
Bt369,949.10 to the creditors group 5. The third interest
payment was September 30, 2001 and the fourth was December 30,
2001, the plan administrator had paid the payment in the amount
of Bt1,334,718.43 for the creditors group 1 and 2.
3. The plan administrator had paid the interest payment to
Bangkok Bank Pcl. in the amount of Bt101,369.86, for the first
interest payment of the convertible bond.
4. The plan administrator had paid the payment and the interest
to the financial institution creditor that agree to accredit for
a new circulating capital; Bangkok Bank Pcl., in the amount of
Bt5,679,972.12.
GENERAL ENGINEERING: Director Javanalikikorn Resigns From Post
--------------------------------------------------------------
General Engineering Public Company Limited informed that Mr.
Paopat Javanalikikorn has resigned from being a Independent
Director and Audit Committee of the Company with effect from 1
March 2002 onwards.
The Company has not yet appointed any person for the position at
the moment.
GEPC has signed a debt restructuring agreement on February 1,
2002 with AIG Finance (Thailand) Public Company Limited of
which the principal amount is Bt9.4 million, debt repayment
within five years period, TCR-AP reported.
SHINAWATRA THAI: Petition for Business Reorganization Filed
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Petition for Business Reorganization of Shinawatra Thai
Company Limited (DEBTOR), engaged in producing and selling Thai
silk and Thai handicraft, was filed in the Central Bankruptcy
Court:
Black Case Number 548/2544
Red Case Number 568/2544
Petitioner: RICHY VENTURE ALLIENCE COMPANY LIMITED
Planner: TASS PLANNER COMPANY LIMITED
Debts Owed to the Petitioning Creditor: Bt1,767,550,845.18
Date of Court Acceptance of the Petition: June 25, 2001
Date of Examining the Petition: July 23, 2001 at 9.00 AM; the
objection may be filed with the Central Bankruptcy Court not
less than three days prior to the trial date
Court Order for Business Reorganization and Appointment of
Planner: July 23, 2001
Announcement of Court Order for Business Reorganization and
Appointment of the Planner in Matichon Public Company Limited
and Siam Rath Company Limited: July 30, 2001
Announcement of Court Order for Business Reorganization and
Appointment of the Planner in Government Gazette: August 28,
2001
Deadline for the Planner to submit the Reorganization Plan to
the Official Receiver: November 28, 2001
Appointment date for the Meeting of Creditors to consider the
Reorganization Plan: January 4, 2002 at 9.30 am. Convention Room
1105, 11th Floor, Bangkok Insurance Building, South Sathorn Road
The Meeting of Creditors had a special resolution accepting the
Reorganization Plan
Court had issued the order accepting the reorganization plan:
January 29, 2002 and Appointed Tass Planner Company Limited to
be as a Plan Administrator
Announcement of Court Order for accepting the Business
Reorganization Plan and Appointment of the Plan Administrator in
Matichon Public Company Limited and Siam Rath Company Limited:
February 14, 2002
Announcement of Court Order for accepting the Business
Reorganization Plan and Appointment of the Plan Administrator in
Government Gazette: February 26, 2002
Contact: Mr. Apiruk Tel, 6792525 ext. 113
SIAM SYNTECH: Administrators OK Board of Directors Changes
----------------------------------------------------------
Siam Syntech Planner Co., Ltd, as the Plan Administrator of Siam
Syntech Construction Pcl, has approved these changes in members
of the Board of Directors of Siam Syntech Construction Pcl:
1. Accepted the resignation of these directors:
Name Position
1) Mr. Yong Tiem Yoon Director and Vice Chairman
effective from January 16th , 2002
2. Approved the appointment of Directors :
Name Position
1) Mrs. Sawang Mankhongchareon Director
2) Mr. Suchat Boonbanjerdsri Director
3) Mr. Prempracha Supasamout Director
4) Mr. Somchai Sirilertpanich Director
effective from January 16th , 2002
These new Directors have been registered to the Public Company
Registrar at Ministry of Commerce.
TANAYONG PUBLIC: Bankruptcy Court OKs Debt Restructuring Plan
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Central Bankruptcy Court has approved the petition filed by
Tanayong Public Company Limited for a debt restructuring plan
worth Bt27.1 billion, AFX reports, citing Senior Vice President
Ekasit Thanasaranart.
"We expect to report positive accounts in the fourth quarter of
this year, once the debt restructuring plan is achieved," he
said, adding that the company remains confident about its
potential for growth, helped by a large land bank.
Tanayong submitted its petition for debt restructuring on Jan
22, naming Tanayong Planner as the proposed administrator. The
Company attributed its problems mainly to accumulated foreign-
exchange losses and consolidated debts, including those of
Bangkok Mass Transit System Co (BTSC), the skytrain operator in
which Tanayong holds a 33 percent stake.
Of the Bt27.1 billion debt, about Bt20 billion in corporate
bonds is held by foreign investors. The debt also consolidates
a portion of the Bt30 billion owed by BTSC).
DebtTraders reports that Tanayong Public's 3.500% convertible
bonds due on 2004 (TYONG) are trading between 2 and 11. Go to
http://www.debttraders.com/price.cfm?dt_sec_ticker=TYONGfor
real-time bond pricing.
S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N
Troubled Company Reporter -- Asia Pacific is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Trenton, NJ
USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, DC USA. Lyndsey Resnick,
Maria Vyrna Nineza-Merlin, Maria Cristina Pernites-Lao, Editors.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1520-9482.
This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
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*** End of Transmission ***