Tuesday, December 2, 2003
S Korea's non-banks agree to roll over LG Card debt
Reuters Seoul, December 2
South Korea's insurance, brokerage and investment trust companies have agreed to roll over loans made to LG Card Co as a part of rescue efforts for the troubled card issuer, creditors said on Tuesday.
The move comes after eight creditor banks agreed to a debt rollover last month to help LG Card, the country's biggest card firm, narrowly escape default. The banks have also pledged to provide two trillion won ($1.67 billion) of emergency loans.
LG Card, a unit of the country's second-biggest conglomerate LG Group, owes 22 trillion won to banks and other financial institutions, according to the regulatory Financial Supervisory Service. It declined to give a breakdown between banks and others.
"We've reached an agreement to roll over LG Card debt maturing in a year from now," said an official of Samsung Life Insurance Co which holds 210 billion won worth of debt in LG Card.
Overdue loans at LG Card, whose 14 million customers represent almost a third of South Korea's population, accounted for 11.4 per cent of its total debt at the end of October, up from 10.6 per cent a month ago.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003