30 Companies to Be Liquidated

At least 30 companies are likely to be cleared off on 14th when the second liquidation evaluation on the companies under debt workout program is held.

The fate of 22 companies out of 35 troubled companies under workout program has been decided. But there is no company who will be cleared off through the court receivership or liquidation process.

Although this measure was made following the demand on the rapid company restructuring, some pointed out that further inquiry is needed to review more closely the possibility of the companies` revival.

t More Companies To Be Liquidated

An official of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) told that ``18 companies out of 102 evaluated companies were included in the liquidation list at the first evaluation. Since even more companies were evaluated at the second evaluation, the number of companies to be included in the liquidation list will increase by twice.`` But the FSS decided not to reveal the names of the companies as it did at the first evaluation.

The official said that ``the evaluation process was almost completed. Considering that the external condition of our national economy has been worsened, we plan to apply the evaluation criteria more strictly.``

Prior to this measure, the 22 creditor banks reported to the FSS the results of the evaluations of credit risk on 1544 companies on 10th.

The FSS declared to finish the evaluation on 1442 companies by the end of September, excluding 102 companies that were already evaluated at the first evaluation in July.

Meanwhile, the FSS reviewed the process of liquidation evaluation, whether all of 22 creditor banks properly evaluated the troubled companies following the bylaws of the banks or whether they applied the evaluation criteria too leniently.

t Most Companies To Remain Under Workout Program

Out of 35 companies under workout program, the fate of 22 companies has been decided, excluding 13 companies whose futures were already determined such as completion of the workout program, self-imposed workout, the establishment of the Corporate Restructuring Vehicle (CRV).

The five companies including Sepoong, Ssangyong Motor, and Daewoo Capital will be sold to the domestic and foreign buyers, and the Nam Kwang Engineering and Construction will be converted to the self-imposed workout program. And the 16 companies including Kabool Textiles and ShinDongBang, will remain under the debt workout programs.

The Sepoong, a paper manufacturing company, is now contacting several prospective buyers, including the US`s Bowater Co.The Ssangyong Motor plans to pursue its sale irrespective of the sale of the Daewoo Motor, selecting a lead manager for its sale.

Prior to this, the creditors had earlier determined how to deal with the 13 companies as follows; s Shinwoo, Diners Card, Orion Electrics—the establishment of the CRV, s the Daewoo Corp. and Daewoo Heavy Industries Corp.—liquidation, s Byucksan Construction, Donghaw Duty Free Shop, Sampyo Industries, Daehyun, and Shinwon—self-pursued workout, s Daewoo Shipbuilding Co.—the completion of the workout programs, and s Kohap, and Daewoo Telecom—the continuation of workout program.

Kim Do-Young nirvana1@donga.com