Creditors extend grace period for troubled EMG

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 (合作金庫銀行), one of the group's major creditor banks, told the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity by telephone yesterday.

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 (王令麟) was taken into custody again on Sunday night, increasing jitters among lenders.

Wang is suspected of involvement in embezzlement at the company and the affiliated Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太集團), founded by his father, fugitive Wang You-theng (王又曾).

EMG has outstanding debts amounting to NT$3 billion, owed to nearly 20 banks led by Taiwan Cooperative and the First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), the official said.

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 (永豐金證券).

Meanwhile, Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視), one of EMG's subsidiaries, stopped trading shares on the Emerging Stock Market (興櫃市場) yesterday, a filing by the company said.

Gary Wang was removed from the news TV station's board, replaced by Lin Teng-yu (林登裕), who also represents institutional board member Eastern Home Shopping Network (東森得易購), another lucrative EMG subsidiary.