NSC creditors to discuss debt plan with Malaysians

A delegation led by creditor-banks of National Steel Corp. (NSC) and the NSC liquidator will go to Malaysia next week to discuss with the Malaysian investors the debt restructuring plan of the debt-saddled steel firm.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday that two-thirds of the local bank creditors have reached a consensus on the debt restructuring plan for NSC.

"With a two-thirds consensus, it was deemed that an offer could already be presented to the Malaysian investors," Roxas said.

Under the restructuring plan for NSC, all of the creditor-banks would agree to a "haircut" and a conversion of part of the debt into equity into the steel firm.

Principally, the Philippine creditor-banks and the NSC liquidator will have to talk with the Malaysian holding firm Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad which took over the shares originally held by Wing Tiek and then the Hottick group.

Following a banking rehabilitation in Malaysia, the Malaysian government, through Danaharta, ended up controlling 82.5 percent of the NSC shares.

But under the restructuring plan for NSC, the Malaysians would have to give up controlling ownership to the creditor banks since the Malaysians are unwilling to pump in any additional capital into the mothballed steel plant in Iligan, Lanao del Norte.