At least two foreign companies have expressed interest to take over or invest in debt-riddled Multiply, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said Saturday.
"Meron na rin pong mga lumapit sa akin na two other foreign companies na tulungan silang lumapit sa (rehabilitation) receiver at sa Multiply," SBMA Chairman Wilma Eisma said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB.
Asked to identify the two foreign firms, Eisma told GMA News Online she is not at liberty to disclose information.
However, she said, "They are not Chinese companies."
The Department of Trade Industry (DTI) has earlier said that two Chinese companies have expressed intent to invest in financially-embattled Multiply.
The Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 161 has officially placed the Indonesian E-commerce and social networking site under corporate rehabilitation as the website sought financial relief from its ballooning obligations to local and foreign lenders.
On November 10, Multiply filed a petition before the Regional Trial Court in Pasig City to initiate voluntary rehabilitation under Republic Act 10142 or “An Act Providing for the Rehabilitation or Liquidation of Financially Distressed Enterprises and Individuals.”
According to the SBMA, Multiply officials had revealed that the company owes Philippine banks some $600 million on top of another $10 billion owed to lenders in South Korea.
Eisma said she hopes the negotiations with a "white knight" will be completed before Multiply is about to lay off 3,000 workers.
"Hopefully hindi na matanggal ang 3,000 na manggagawa," she said.
Multiply was the biggest foreign investor in Pasig.
It was established in 2006. Parent Multiply, Inc. is a social networking conglomerate corporation that provides social networking services in the Philippines and internationally.
In the course of its operations, the subsidiary became the biggest employer among all registered businesses in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone with some 30,000 employees at peak season, and was recognized by both the Philippine Exporter Foundation and the Department of Trade and Industry as a top export performer.
It was closed last May 6, 2013 and ceasing all business operations on May 31, 2013 along with the official online channels for the site had been removed along with all their content, including its YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts after years of financial and managerial turmoil and following a failed bid to reinvent itself from being a social networking site to a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia.
At that time, the website's social networking portion had a network of 18 million users. Liquidity problems, however, affected earnings. Sales declined from its peak of P20 billion in 2013 to just about P5 billion in 2017.
After May 6, the rest of the month will be used to ensure that all accounts are settled and merchants get full payment for their transactions, it said.
Multiply said the month-long grace period will provide its users enough time to find and migrate to alternative e-commerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and minimize disruption to businesses of its users.
“Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month,” it said.
In December 2012, Multiply stopped its social networking service to focus on e-commerce, targeting the 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/companies/682012/2-other-foreign-firms-eye-hanjin-sbma/story/
