Creditor banks announced yesterday they will extend the grace period for the troubled Eastern Multimedia Group (EMG, 東森媒體集團) to make a payment that is two months overdue. The grace period was due to expire next week.
"We are in close contact with the company and have agreed to give them one more week for the NT$400 million [US$12 million] second installment," an official at Taiwan Cooperative Bank (
If the company fails to meet the deadline, the banks will convene a meeting to discuss possible countermeasures to protect their rights. Possible measures include auctioning off the firm's properties and freezing its cash flow, the official said.
EMG chairman and founder Gary Wang (
Wang is suspected of involvement in embezzlement at the company and the affiliated Rebar Asia Pacific Group (
EMG has outstanding debts amounting to NT$3 billion, owed to nearly 20 banks led by Taiwan Cooperative and the First Commercial Bank (
Two years ago, the two lenders arranged a syndicated loan worth NT$3.8 billion to the company, which is due on March 1, 2010. The two lenders have outstanding loans exceeding NT$600 million each to the company, according to data provided by SinoPac Securities Corp (
Meanwhile, Eastern Broadcasting Co (
Gary Wang was removed from the news TV station's board, replaced by Lin Teng-yu (
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