Vinashin will have to pay all debts: minister

The state-owned Shipbuilder (Vinashin) will have to pay all its debts in a specific time line, Minister, Chairman of the Government Office, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said at a press conference.

Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin), the state-owned company with more than $4 billion of debt, will have to pay all its debts in a specific time line, Minister, Chairman of the Government Office, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said at the government’s May press conference held today in Hanoi.

The Minister highlighted that “credit rule is that you must payback what you borrowed”.

Vinashin and related agencies will build a specific time line for paying debts, Phuc said.

The Minister’s saying came out one day after Bloomberg post a news article on June 2, saying that the state-owned shipbuilder has asked holders of a local-currency bond it defaulted on in April to write off as much as 90% of the money owed, citing a bondholder who met company officials last week.

Vinashin failed to pay a 9%coupon due on April 13 on a VND3 trillion, 10-year bond issued in 2007.

“Vinashin told creditors at the meeting in Hanoi it is unable to make any loan payments until 2015 at the earliest” Pham Viet Bac, general director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Sabeco Fund Management, which holds 30 billion dong ($1.5 million) of Vinashin bonds, told Bloomberg on phone.

The shipbuilder also asked foreign lenders for a one-year extension after missing a $60 million principal payment in December for a $600 million loan. Dozens of financial institutions invested in the loan, including, among others, Standard Chartered PLC, Credit Suisse AG, Depfa Bank PLC and hedge fund Elliott Advisers Ltd.

Foreigners today had the biggest net buying into Vietnamese stocks since April 5 on HOSE of VND98.96 billion – Stoxplus.com

Tags: Vinashin