The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has told cash-strapped Energy Earth Plc to disclose all of its debt obligations to creditors following the revelation that the coal dealer failed to pay a 717.5-million-baht debt.
Santi: Laying down the law on disclosure
Trading in Energy Earth (EARTH) shares will remain suspended until the company discloses required information, said SET executive vice-president Santi Kiranand.
The SET suspended trade in Energy Earth shares on Thursday afternoon because the company had not clarified how defaulting on debt would affect its ability to run the business, its financial status and its operating results.
Energy Earth on Thursday morning said it had defaulted on bills of exchanges (B/Es) because one of its financial institutions temporarily stopped the company from using a credit facility to reduce the outstanding balance to less than 5 billion baht.
Moreover, the company's plan to issue 5 billion baht worth of new bonds has been stalled by the financial institution.
In May, the financial institution ceased all of the credit facilities, even though Energy Earth had never defaulted on any payment or breached a contract. The company has been unable to find alternative financing in the interim and has faced extremely tight cash flow after redeeming B/Es worth 4.12 billion baht in January.
Energy Earth last week failed to redeem its two lots of B/Es worth a combined 90 million baht and defaulted on another 70 million baht in B/Es on Thursday.
According to an Energy Earth filing submitted to the SET, the company’s B/Es worth an additional 400 million baht will become due for payment over the next month, with 10 million baht due on Wednesday.
According to SET data, Energy Earth's market value has declined to 5.16 billion baht from 16.3 billion early this year. As of Thursday, 6,949 retail investors held a combined 53.9% stake in Energy Earth.