Nuntawun Polkuamdee

Bonds of Acumen Co., will be delisted from the Thai Bond Dealing Centre after Tris Rating announced it was cancelling its rating of the bonds, citing a lack of information.

Acumen, a subsidiary of telecommunications firm Jasmine International, in1999 issued five-year senior secured debentures worth 3.5 billion baht with a coupon rate of 8.125%.

Tris's action, a first since the 1997-98 economic crisis, was taken after Acumen failed to offer information updates for at least 12 months. Tris had previously rated the bonds BBB+.

One Acumen executive said that the remaining debt on the debentures stood at 1.5 billion baht.

But under the dealing centre's rules, a delisting is mandatory if a rating is cancelled. According to Thai Farmers Bank, the bond registrar, more than 100 investors hold the debentures, mostly local provident, mutual and private funds.

"We believe that the company will continue to pay its debt until maturity in 2004. There are only four payments remaining. Still, it would be difficult to trade these bonds without a rating," one bond dealer said.

Jasmine last week submitted a business rehabilitation plan to court receivers. The company board is expected to meet shortly to review the plan.

For the third quarter of last year, Jasmine reported a net loss of 529.97 million baht, compared with a profit of 420.5 million in the same period a year before.

The loss for the first nine months of last year was 1.6 billion baht, compared with a net profit of 380.1 million previously.

According to Tris, Acumen could face operational risks if Jasmine filed for bankruptcy or entered business rehabilitation proceedings since they share the same management team.

Acumen was potentially exposed to liquidity problems if the firm was unable to deliver services as stipulated to TOT Corp, the ratings agency said.