US hedge fund Elliot Advisers LP has dropped its lawsuit against Vietnamese state-owned shipbuilder Vinashin over a loan of US$13.2 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The company, which is known for playing the long game when taking governments to court, made the move more than three months after it filed the lawsuit at the British High Court.
The loan was part of a $600-million syndicated loan that Vinashin defaulted on in December 2010, when the first repayment of $60 million was due, the newspaper reported.
The loan was invested in by a group of investors, including Credit Suisse AG, Dublin-based Depfa Bank PLC and Malayan Banking Bhd, the source said.
It quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying that before Elliott filed the suit, Vinashin initially offered to repay 35 cents on the dollar bondholders.
Vinashin nearly went bankrupt after piling up debts of $4.5 billion in 2010.
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On March 30, Phan Thanh Binh, former board chairman at Vinashin, received a 20-year-sentence for “deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management,” leading to the corporation’s huge losses. Eight other former officials at the shipbuilder also received jail terms for the same charges.
The corporation is undergoing a massive restructuring effort in accordance with a government order to stop all operations outside the company's expertise and focus exclusively on shipbuilding and repair contracts.