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To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (4667)	7/20/2000 3:03:19 AM
From: patron_anejo_por_favor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Sayonara, Seiyo! iht.com Paris, Wednesday, July 19, 2000 Debt Burden Sinks a 2d Big Company In Japan TOKYO - Seiyo Corp., a Japanese property developer that is part of Saison Group, filed for liquidation Tuesday with debts of 517.5 billion yen ($4.79 billion) Once the proud owner of the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland, which calls itself the home of golf, Seiyo's demise shows Japan is still cleaning up a legacy of debt accumulated during the speculative investment heyday of its late 1980s real estate bubble economy. The news comes only six days after department store operator Sogo Co. filed for court protection with 1.87 trillion yen in liabilities. Sogo and Seiyo expanded rapidly in the 1980s, racking up debt that went bad as land and property prices fell in the past decade. Seiji Tsutsumi, who founded Saison Group 30 years ago, said he would provide about 10 billion yen of his own money to repay part of Seiyo's debts. Saison Group, a diversified cluster of companies spanning department stores, credit card services and hotels, had been working on an agreement with seven creditors, led by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd., to restore its financial standing. A resolution to Seiyo's debt problems was considered a central part of that plan. Saison Group and its lenders met Tuesday and approved a restructuring plan under which the group will assume 100 billion yen in losses related to Seiyo's liquidation, while 46 of Seiyo's lenders will cover about 340 billion yen of the debt. Other Saison Group units, Seiyu Ltd., a supermarket chain operator, and consumer credit company Credit Saison Co., will purchase Seiyo's assets. In addition, the group will consider securitizing Seibu Department Stores' shops, executives said.