Apax Leaders operator offers creditors household appliance as debt payment

The company has offered to sell appliances of German brand such as electric stove, pots and dishwasher at half price to creditors, paying off debts with the savings.

The products are sold under four packages ranging from VND36-90 million ($1,500-3,800).

Egroup also offers to pay back creditors with English courses, and investment in its English centers and property.

It offers 100 online English courses for children aged 6-15, each priced at VND7.8 million a year. Creditors will pay half of the value and Egroup the rest.

It has also invites creditors to pour in at least VND100 million to fund the operation of its 10 English centers in Hanoi and neighboring provinces.

Egroup promises that after the restructuring process is complete, creditors will receive their investment back with a profit of up to VND300 million.

It said that five centers in the list have run out of investment slots.

Egroup also offers creditors 25 land lots in Bac Giang Province, priced from VND680 million to VND2.1 billion, and 12 villas in the outskirts of Hanoi, priced at VND12.6-12.9 billion.

The company will pay for part of the property and deduct it from the debt, and the creditors will pay the remainder.

By the end of March over 300 creditors had agreed to convert their debt to property discounts, and 100 successful transactions had been recorded, Egroup said.

Egroup has not revealed how it will pay back creditors who do not agree with the proposed options.

The company has reopened 33 centers, but said it still needs “lots of funding” to reopen others.

Apax Leaders started to face financial difficulties last year when many students’ parents in HCMC, Dak Lak, Da Nang, and other places began to complain about the teaching quality and accused the chain of “running away” with their money. Earlier this year it had only one facility operating in HCMC.

The school has held several meetings with parents and promised to pay back the tuition fee by June.