Bianfishco Deal in Vietnam Hung Up
summary：Debt-beleaguered Binh An Fishery Joint Stock Co (Bianfishco and its creditors on have fallen into another deadlock due to the belated release of new information about the status of its stock....
A meeting chaired by the Can Tho City Department of Planning and Investment was aimed at making the Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) become the biggest shareholders of Bianfishco, and let Tran Van Tri become the general director of the company.But the meeting between Bianfishco, SHB and Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), ended without realizing any of its initial goals. A sticking point was some 25 million remaining Bianfishco shares owned by former CEO Dieu Hien, which had been mortgaged to a branch of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) for loans before being brought to the Can Tho branch of VDB as mortgage for another loan.
These shares had finally been sold to Ho May Co. While they had been mortgaged to BIDV, BIDV was not invited to join the meeting. In early April, the BIDV branch sent a document to the city planning-investment department to ask for legal support in changing the certificate of business registration related to the change or transfer of 25 million shares of Dieu Hien.
BIDV said in the document that the company must get the approval from the bank before selling the shares to any others. The firm was then got informed by the department. However, Bianfishco, SHB and VDB last month signed a memorandum of cooperation for financial support, agreeing to assist the firm in disbursement for the repayment of debts owing to local farmers and businesses in an effort to stabilize production and ensure the rights of workers, farmers and other shareholders.