No decision yet on NSC lease proposals — SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it has not reached a decision on the proposal of Voest Alpine to lease the facilities of the defunct National Steel Corp. (NSC). Officials said they would settle the minor motions before resolving the question of lease.

Contrary to earlier reports that Malacañang has picked Voest Alpine’s lease proposal over two others, the hearing panel in charge of NSC’s liquidation said it has not reached a final decision on any of the lease proposals that have been submitted for evaluation.

Hearing panel chairman Celia Escarial-Sandejas told reporters that the commission would clear up all pending incidents before the end of January and this would pave the way for the unhampered evaluation of all proposals that have been submitted thus far.

According to Sandejas, the other proponent, Allengoal Steel Fabrication, has been required to submit further documents to support its lease proposal but it was not able to do so before the holiday season.

Allengoal and Cathay Pacific Steel Corp. (Capasco) asked the NSC evaluation committee for more time to submit additional clarificatory information about their lease offers. The committee gave the two firms up to Dec. 19 to submit the additional requirements.

According to Sandejas, however, the hearing panel has not received any of the additional documents from the proponents. "We only read in the papers that the government was supposed to have approved one lease proposal but as far as we are concerned, we haven’t made any decision and the commission is where this decision will emanate," she said.

The committee had initially projected that it would be able to complete its evaluation before the year ends. But the evaluation committee feels it needs more information about the lease offers of Allengoal and Capasco.

The three proponents were supposed to turn in these documents by Dec. 10, but only Voest Alpine was able to submit the additional information required by the evaluation committee.

Capasco was asked by the evaluation committee to submit a monthly cashflow projection for the first year of operation as well as a more detailed rehabilitation cost estimate and a breakdown of funding sources.

Allengoal was also asked to submit a detailed rehabilitation cost estimate and a breakdown of its funding sources, plus its long-term plan beyond its two-year lease offer.

According to Sandejas, however, the hearing panel would be able to resolve all minor motions still pending. "We would probably just issue an omnibus order to settle all these minor questions so we can move on to the bigger issues," she said.

NSC’s facilities in Iligan have been mothballed for almost two years now since the company went under following its failure to settle its maturing obligations. Unable to find anyone willing to invest fresh funds to finance the company’s rehabilitation, government is now forced to liquidate the company.

Government’s plan to lease out the facility is intended to at least reopen the plant before it deteriorates to the point of uselessness as well as to restore part of the dislocated workforce.

Formerly a state-owned company, NSC was sold to a Malaysian conglomerate which itself is now facing serious financial problems, compelling the Malaysian government to take over their assets, including NSC. – Des Ferriols