The government-ordered takeover of Great Chinese Bills Finance Corp (力華票券) after its parent company Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) declared bankruptcy in early January will end on Dec. 19, Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said yesterday.
"Four of the company's debt owners have agreed to convert their NT$1.068 billion in debt holdings into Great Chinese Bills equities at a small loss of 2 percent," Chang told a press conference. "And [they] will hold a shareholders' meeting on Dec. 19 to elect five board directors and return to normal operations that same day."
"The means that the government's takeover will end when the shareholders' meeting finishes," Chang said.
Since its recapitalization, Great Chinese Bills' financial structure has greatly improved, a commission statement said.
The company has registered NT$1.047 in assets with a 33.92 percent capital adequacy ratio (CAR).
Upon the takeover by state-controlled Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) and private Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), Great Chinese Bills reported a funding gap of NT$1.892 billion (US$52.2 million) with a CAR of negative 21.9 percent in January, the statement said.
Great Chinese Bills' four new shareholders are led by Taiwan Cooperative Bank with a more than 50 percent stake. The other investors are the Bank of Panhsin (
The four companies have also agreed to jointly increase Great Chinese Bills' capital to meet an NT$2 billion threshold by the end of next year, Chang said.
Although the investors have not agreed on a debt-equity swap deal, the company's remaining debt owners, led by Cathay United, agreed to cut losses and recover their combined NT$4.5 billion in debt in cash at a discount of nearly 50 percent.
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