Terjemahan Ringkas:

Apa yang berlaku kepada Gadek, anak syarikat Diversified Resources, mengingatkan kita betapa berhutang melalui bon akan menimbulkan masalah juga jika syarikat tersebut gagal membayarnya bila sampai tempoh matangnya. Inilah salah satu syarikat kroni yang agak intim dengan Mahathir yang melibatkan diri dalam pelbagai sektor otomotif, hartanah, pembinaan dan kewangan.

Gadek menghadapi masalah kerana gagal membayar faedah bon yang dikeluarkan pada lebih setahun lalu. Ia masih belum mengemukakan cadangan atau jalan keluar kepada penjamin dan pemegang bon.

Inilah kali kedua Gadek diberi amaran. Institusi kewangan nampaknya sudah tidak bersabar lagi. Kini Gadek diberi tempoh 14 hari untuk menyelesaikan masalah atau ia terpaksa gulung tikar dan beberapa hartanya dilelong rampas sebagai kolateral.

Kroni memang mudah mendapat hutang kerana jalinan hubungan dengan pemimpin atasan. Tetapi institusi kewangan akan tergugat bila ia gagal melunaskan hutang. Tersilap langkah, institusi kewangan sendiri akan cair atau tertelan. Itulah bakat berniaga yang kununnya dimiliki oleh kroni yang digembar-gemburkan Mahathir... mereka cuma pandai berhutang tetapi tidak pandai mengurus perniagaan. Siapakah yang akan susah nanti jika tidak pekerja bawahan yang akan hilang mata pencarian? Salah siapa lagi dalam agenda penswastaan?

-Kapal Berita-

Source: The Asian Wall Street Journal

9th February 2001

Gadek Faces Legal Action From a Group of Creditors

By LESLIE LOPEZ

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Local and foreign creditors of listed investment holding company Gadek Bhd. have decided to initiate legal action against the Malaysian company for failing to honor financial commitments in a large bond issue that falls due in mid-March.

A 14-day deadline set by creditors for Gadek to comply with financial commitments under the bond issue expired early this week, said financial executives familiar with the situation. It was the second demand notice Gadek has received in the past two months, and the financial executives said the company has yet to present creditors with an alternative plan to settle its commitments under the 729-million-ringgit ($191.9 million) bond issue.

"The whole thing is going nowhere. We're proceeding with legal action," said one executive of a creditor bank. Officials from Gadek, which is linked to conglomerate Diversified Resources Bhd., couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Developments at Gadek reflect a new phase in Malaysia's much-criticized restructuring process. Once-accommodating lenders to well-connected Malaysian companies are growing impatient with the glacial pace of debt workouts and restructurings.

Financial executives close to the creditor banks said negotiations with Gadek over the company's inability to comply with conditions under the large bond issue began more than a year ago. In early January, Commerce International Merchant Bankers -- the security agent for six banks that guaranteed the Gadek bond issue in 1996 -- wrote to the company, notifying Gadek that it had breached the terms of its bond guarantee agreement.

The financial institutions, including two foreign banks, said they would proceed with legal action against Gadek within two weeks unless the company provided collateral to cover its bond obligations and set aside sufficient cash in a sinking fund intended to finance the repayment of the securities. That first demand notice expired Jan. 19.

Shook Lin & Bok, a Malaysian law firm acting for Commerce International Merchant Bankers, issued another letter of demand on Jan. 23, giving Gadek 14 days to comply with terms of the bond agreement or risk legal action. Bankers say that under such a situation, Gadek's creditors could seek court approval for the sale or liquidation of the collateral the creditors hold and, in a worst-case scenario, press for a court order to liquidate the company.

The Gadek bonds are scheduled for redemption March 18. If Gadek can't redeem them -- which financial executives familiar with the situation say is likely -- the guarantor banks will be forced to step in to pay bondholders.

Diversified Resources, a listed Malaysian conglomerate with strong links to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ad ministration, holds a minority stake in Gadek. The Diversified Resources group has investments in the automotive business, property, construction and financial services.