Creditors assure Danaharta of its share in NSC sales proceeds

Creditor-banks of the former National Steel Corp. (NSC) have assured Malaysia’s asset management firm Pengurusan Nasional Danaharta of its fair share in the proceeds of NSC’s sale to the Ispat Group of India.

Sources from the creditor-banks, who recently met with Danaharta officials in Malaysia, said Danaharta did not pose any objection to the sale.

The sources said all Danaharta wanted was an assurance that it would get its fair share from the sale of NSC to Global Infrastructure Holdings Inc., the Philippine subsidiary of the Ispat Group of India.

Danaharta had owned up to 80 percent of NSC before it agreed to a major "haircut" that brought down its shareholding to just 20 percent and allowed a restructuring of NSC’s crippling P16-billion debt load.

Following the debt restructuring in 2002, the creditor-banks took majority control of NSC and Danaharta agreed to be relegated into a minor shareholder in the steel firm it no longer wanted to infuse additional investments into.

The creditor-banks were then able to find a buyer for NSC – the Ispat Group of India. Feeling left out of the deal, however, Danaharta informed Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar V. Purisima of its desire to be more informed about the sale.