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Bach Tuyet’s major shareholder rejects share-sale plan
Bach Tuyet Cotton Joint-Stock Co., a cotton-products manufacturer, said a major shareholder rejected a plan to sell new shares and raise capital to pay overdue debt and revive production.
Bach Tuyet and Gia Dinh Textile and Garment Co., which holds a 30 percent stake and represents the state’s investment, failed to agree on the issue of new shares at a board of management meeting on August 9, according to a statement e-mailed Tuesday by Bach Tuyet.
Gia Dinh Textile on July 14 refused to approve Bach Tuyet’s plan to issue 8.2 million new shares on concerns the sale would dilute its stake and demanded Bach Tuyet change its management.
The latest refusal means creditors including Maritime Bank may be closer to seizing the Ho Chi Minh City-based company’s assets.
Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, which owns Gia Dinh Textile, on August 7 asked the company to approve Bach Tuyet’s share plan and lend Bach Tuyet money to maintain production, according to a statement from the committee that cited Vice Chairman Nguyen Trung Tin.
Gia Dinh Textile didn’t need to follow the committee’s request as it was up to shareholders to decide on the plans, the e-mail statement said, citing Bui Van Xuan, one of the three Gia Dinh Textile shareholders on Bach Tuyet’s management board.
“We don’t know what we are going to do as Maritime Bank can’t wait long for our repayment delay,’’ Ta Xuan Tho, Bach Tuyet’s general director, said by phone.
Tran Anh Tuan, Maritime Bank’s vice chairman, declined to comment.
Debt repayment
Maritime Bank on August 7 allowed Bach Tuyet to delay paying VND21 billion (US$1.3 million) without giving the exact deadline for repayment.
The bank had earlier said July 29 it would seize some of Bach Tuyet’s assets, including land, factory and production equipment, if the company failed to repay the debt by August 6.
Before suspending production on July 12, Bach Tuyet was supplying medical cotton products to 80 percent of hospitals in Vietnam, according to Bach Tuyet’s Tho.
“We are hoping Bach Tuyet will not go into bankruptcy,’’ said Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, head of nursing department at the 460-bed Medical University Center in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Bach Tuyet is the only supplier in the market now of cotton tipped applicators that help us save a lot of time during surgery,’’ she said by phone.
“We haven’t been able to look for another supplier of these products.’’
Bach Tuyet’s shares dropped VND100, or 1.64 percent, to close at VND6,000 Tuesday, falling since trading resumed July 21 on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange after a six-day suspension.
The company has 6.8 million outstanding shares with a market value of VND41 billion.
The shares have dropped more than 73 percent this year, compared with a 50 percent decline in the benchmark VN-Index.
TNN
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