Transmile future still uncertain

STRUGGLING Malaysian cargo company – Transmile Group – has missed the deadline for submitting a debt-restructuring plan, leaving its future uncertain.

After its low point in 2007, following financial irregularities by senior management, Transmile was given until April to provide a plan for approval by one of its investors, Malaysian Trustees.

“It is still on-going,” said managing director Liu Tan Shin. “We have to wait for our advisors to formulate the plan and communicate with our lenders.”

The company has debts of over US$165 million, which have all been in default over the past 30 months, admitted Liu at the company’s annual general meeting last week.

“Our target is to get rid of all our debt problems,” he said. “We have been trying to do it [debt-restructuring] for two years. We will try and expedite that. We will release the documents to the bank and wait for them to come back. It involves about 20 banks both foreign and local,” he added.

With no clear date for turning around the company Liu joked to the shareholders: “We will turn it around for you tomorrow.”

With regards to its ongoing lawsuit against disgraced former chief executive officer Gan Boon Aun and former chief financial officer Lo Chok Ping over the 2007 accounting scandal, Liu commented: “We have a bad reputation which we need to address. It is not about getting money back. From the company’s perspective, we need a closure.”

However, he was also upbeat: “Despite major issues faced we are still doing business and developing new routes to strengthen the group’s presence in the region and generate revenue.”