HK holding firm shows interest in ASB Group

A Hong Kong-based investment holding company has reportedly taken interest in investing into the beleaguered ASB Group as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted another 60-day reprieve on the payment of its roughly P9-billion debts.

Chevalier International Holdings Ltd., which is into real estate investments, has secured the approval of ASB’s creditor banks for it to infuse an unspecified amount of capital into the troubled local property developer to jumpstart and hasten its rehabilitation plan.

The ASB Group, controlled by businessman Luke Roxas, is the owner and developer of numerous real estate projects, mostly condominium projects of which 19 are completed and four, particularly the BSA Twin Tower, Garden Heights, the ASB Malayan Tower and Legaspi Place, are currently under various stages of construction.

But in May last year, the group sought refuge at the SEC as it defaulted on its bank debts and scrambled to pay off claims by other creditors due to the depressed state of the real estate sector in the country.

The group owes P3.9 billion to more than 700 individual creditors and P5 billion to various creditor banks led by Allied Bank, Philippine National Bank, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., United Coconut Planters Bank, Equitable PCI Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
Under the rehab plan set by the SEC, the ASB Group had proposed the settlement of its debts through dacion-en-pago or outright sale of its real estate assets.

Also, the real estate firm will complete or sell ongoing projects and invite unsecured creditors to purchase real estate parcels and other assets and set off the amount of their outstanding claim against the purchase price.