ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) said yesterday it was in intensive talks with a gas supplier to lift an injunction against it, renewing concerns among creditors that financial troubles could again bring ProMOS to the brink of bankruptcy and undermine bailout efforts.
The latest troubles came just a day after the nation’s No. 3 maker of computer memory chips cleared another financial hurdle by securing the support of 79 percent of bond holders to sell bonds back to ProMOS at a heavy discount. The buyback will allow the company to repay US$335 million in outstanding convertible bonds with new bank loans.
The company’s major creditors had agreed in principle to lend NT$3 billion (US$89 million) to ProMOS after the cash-strapped company won the support of the majority of bond holders for the buyback.
But ProMOS said yesterday it was not sure whether the injunction would have any impact on the banks’ decision to grant fresh loans.
ProMOS spokesman Ben Tseng (曾邦助) said by telephone yesterday that the company was “in intensive talks with the gas supplier, who requested an injunction against ProMOS because the company owed the supplier between NT$6 million and NT$7 million in gas fees,” Tseng said.
Tsai Fu-thi (蔡富吉), a spokesman for the state-controlled Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), said: “The board will reconsider the new loans. We will not grant the loans until ProMOS resolves this problem along with other matters.”
The Bank of Taiwan is ProMOS’ main creditor.
Tsai said that ProMOS was facing other obstacles to obtaining the loans, including a plan by ProMOS chairman Chen Min-liang (陳民良) to change his status to general guarantor from joint guarantor for the NT$3 billion in loans.
Lenders are mostly opposed to the plan, Tsai said.
Despite the uncertainty, shares of ProMOS jumped 6.25 percent to NT$1.02 yesterday compared with a 2.3 percent rise on the benchmark TAIEX index.
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