Indebted RNA may have to be shut
RNA Holdings, which is in the second stage of delisting from the Hong Kong stock exchange, risks being liquidated if its current debt restructuring fails.
'In the event the company is unable to restructure its debts and is eventually wound up, there is unlikely to be any meaningful return to creditors and shareholders,' a company announcement said yesterday.
In April, one creditor filed a winding-up petition for claiming it was owed $5 million by RNA.
The gold-refining and trading company started a debt restructuring in June, involving a debt-for-equity swap in which creditors will receive an estimated 58.4 billion new shares worth $58.4 million for claims of $1.17 billion. RNA's debt was estimated at $1.26 billion as of August 16.
The remaining 95 per cent of the $1.17 billion of claims was to be discharged and waived if trading of RNA's shares - frozen since June 2 last year - resumed.
However, RNA's shares will not be allowed to resume trading unless the firm implements an adequate internal control system to rectify concerns raised by its former auditors and the stock exchange.
If the debt restructuring succeeds, the creditors' equity stake in RNA will more than double from the 24.24 per cent to more than 50 per cent.
'I don't have any idea how long the debt restructuring will take,' said RNA chairman Raymond Chan Fat-chu, who declined to comment further.
China Credit Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed firm that holds a 5.13 per cent stake in RNA, will buy 5.5 billion new shares of RNA at $0.001 per share, a 96.3 per cent discount to the last closing price.
China Credit has an option to buy 15.4 billion new shares at $0.0015 per share, provided RNA raises at least $10 million, possibly through a rights issue or private placement.
For the six months to October, RNA had a net loss of $44.73 million on revenue of $2.09 billion.
