NSC creditors deplore SEC move to change liquidator

The creditors of the National Steel Corp. (NSC) have criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its move to change NSC’s liquidator in "mid-stream" which, they said, only turned off investors keen on buying the cash-strapped steel firm.

The firm’s creditors-Philippine National Bank (PNB), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Global Bank, Equitable-PCI Bank, Credit Agricole Indosuez-hinted that NSC would have been bought by any of the prospective investors had SEC prevented the entry of a newly installed liquidator.

The deadlock, they said, in whether NSC be sold to any interested investor soon or not, has been attributed to Danilo Concepcion, NSC’s liquidator, who wanted the steel firm’s rusting mills to be maintained by anybody qualified to run them.

"One major factor that caused the delay in earlier closing a deal with the prospective buyer is that, with due respect to this honorable commission, it allowed the change of the liquidator while the negotiation was already in mid-stream", the creditors said.

They added that the prospective investor seen to be capable of wrapping up the deal earlier put off buying NSC stalling negotiation for over three weeks now.

"If time is to be considered by this honorable commission to be of the essence, then in the first hand this honorable commission, with due respect, should not have changed the liquidator," the creditor said.

The bank-creditors, belying Concepcion’s claim that NSC’s rusting mills need to be operated temporarily to avoid their ending up in the junk yard, opposed the liquidator’s lease-out plan which, according to them, will only muddle negotiations with prospective buyers.

"The liquidator’s incorrect portrayal of the present condition of NSC’s machinery only bolsters allegations that the present liquidator has no personal knowledge about the present state of NSC’s Iligan plant," they said.

"It is the creditors’ view that the lease thereof is not the best solution considering that the prospect of closing a deal with an interested buyer is duly forthcoming," the bank-creditors added.

Earlier, Concepcion, claiming that NSC’s creditors had been unwilling to release money for the upkeep of the mills, proposed that the firm be leased out to any bidder qualified to run it to make money on its own while negotiation with would-be investors are underway.