The founder of debt-ridden Taeyoung Engineering and Construction Co. on Tuesday drew up a fresh self-rescue measure, repeating his appeal for creditors to allow the ailing builder to enter a debt restructuring program.

Yoon Se-young, founder and honorary chairman of Taeyoung, told a televised press conference that he would put shares of terrestrial TV network SBS and TY Holdings up as collateral if needed under the new measures.

TY Holdings is a holding company of the builder, and SBS is a cash-generating affiliate of Taeyoung Group.

Yoon said Taeyoung “will not only ask for the support of creditors, but we will more faithfully carry out the self-rescue efforts we need to do.”

Taeyoung, the 16th-largest builder in South Korea in terms of construction capacity, applied for a debt restructuring program late last month due to a liquidity shortage over real estate project financing (PF) loans.

The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), the builder’s main creditor, reacted positively to the fresh self-res
cue measure, calling it the “first step to restore the trust of the market.”

“We believe the company is vowing to comply with the basic principles of a workout and execute it with today’s announcement,” the bank said in a statement.

Taeyoung has been suffering from a liquidity shortage amid high interest rates and a slumping property market, and its outstanding PF loans came to 3.2 trillion won (US$2.4 billion).

Real estate PF loans have emerged as a major risk factor for the country’s financial sector and the overall economy, and the government vowed to expand liquidity supply programs from the current level of 85 trillion won, if needed.

Source: Yonhap News Agency