ASB Group gets 60-day extension of debt relief

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted another 60-day extension for the suspension of payments of the debt-saddled ASB Group of Companies to enable them to work out a new rehabilitation plan.

SEC Chairman Lilia Bautista said ASB will be given until April 29 to submit a new rehabilitation program which will take into consideration the entry of its reported "white knight" – the Hong Kong-based Chevalier International Holdings Ltd.

The extension of ASB’s debt payment moratorium was the third granted by the SEC since the group sought the agency’s help in May last year as it defaulted on its bank debts and scrambled to pay off claims by other creditors due to the depressed state of real estate in the country.

The ASB group owes about 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 Commerial Banking Corp.

Bautista said ASB’s old rehabilitation plan did not factor in the entry of a new investor and was not deemed acceptable to most of its creditors, particularly the secured creditors.

However, the entry of Chevalier, whose business interest include investments in real estate, greatly improved ASB’s chance of getting the approval of its creditors and avoid the possible liquidation of its assets once its new rehabilitation plan gets their approval.

Earlier, Chevalier had reportedly agreed to infuse fresh equity into ASB and floated three possible options for the settlement of the company’s debts. – Conrado Diaz Jr.