Category: Press Releases

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29 September 2020 : The Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases (Bankruptcy Division) upheld the decision to dismiss the rehabilitation petition submitted by JTA against GL. The decision is final

The Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases (Bankruptcy Division) upheld the decision to dismiss the rehabilitation petition submitted by JTA against GL. The decision is final

29 Sep 2020

Mr. Alain Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed that “on 29 September 2020, the Central Bankruptcy Court read the Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases (Bankruptcy Division) (“CASC”)’s Judgment. The CASC, in favor of GL, upheld the Central Bankruptcy Court’s decision to dismiss the rehabilitation petition submitted by JTA against GL.”

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “we are pleased the Court has given final clarity on this case and found that GL’s robust business does not need rehabilitation. The consecutive three dismissals of JTA’s claims is a strong indication that the Court, at multiple levels, rejected JTA’s arguments.

Our strong belief that JTA’s argument were invalid led us to previously sue JTA for their bad faith legal actions, which on 5 March 2020, the Thai Civil Court agreed with our claim and ordered JTA to pay THB 685.5 million to GL. However, that claim was only for the period of 10 January 2018 to 19 March 2018 during the first automatic stay brought about by JTA’s conduct. Since then, as shown by today’s ruling, JTA continued its abusive court actions against GL.

As a response, earlier this month, GL filed a civil claim seeking 9,130 million baht in damages and legal expenses for JTA’s bad faith legal actions for the period of 20 March 2018 to 11 September 2020. GL is thankful for the Court’s conclusion and we hope this judgement persuades JTA to abandon their bad faith legal strategy.”

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18 September 2020 : Group Lease Public Company Limited seeks 9,130 million baht in damages from JTA and Directors in Thailand

Group Lease Public Company Limited seeks 9,130 million baht in damages from JTA and Directors in Thailand

18 Sep 2020

Mr. Alain Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed “on 11 September 2020, GL filed a civil claim against JTrust Asia Pte Ltd. (“JTA”) in Thailand seeking 9,130 million baht (roughly $292 million) in damages. This claim is similar to the previous civil claim we won on 5 March 2020 where the Court ruled that JTA was guilty of abuse of process in regards to the rehabilitation petition against GL in Thailand. In that case, the Court ruled that JTA’s actions caused damages and ordered JTA to pay 685.5 million baht, including lawyer fees, to GL as of 5 March 2020.

The damages awarded to GL on 5 March 2020 related to the automatic stay period from 10 January 2018 to 19 March 2018—a total of 68 days plus litigation costs. However, JTA continued to commit wrongful acts against GL even after 19 March 2018. JTA did not accept the Bankruptcy Court’s 19 March 2018 ruling and appealed shortly after. As a result, the Central Bankruptcy Court again reviewed the case which resulted in another and even longer automatic stay for GL, which eventually the Court again dismissed JTA’s claims in favor of GL. Still, JTA refused to accept the Court’s conclusion and appealed. These JTA actions and other legal actions by JTA against GL in Thailand and against GL’s subsidiary in Singapore have caused damages in GL continuously. Further, it turned out that these JTA actions have been decided and instructed by JTrust Co., Ltd. (“JTrust”), JTA’s parent company, and two directors, thus GL has now claimed in this civil case against JTrust and the directors as well.”

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “as long as JTrust and their companies continue its bad faith legal strategy and using the courts as its instrument to harm GL, then GL will continue to seek compensation for that damage. The claim filed 11 September 2020 and court fees paid on 17 September 2020, covers the period from 20 March 2018 to 11 September 2020. Since the court in Thailand previously awarded GL 10 million baht per day in damages for JTA’s actions, GL is seeking 9,070 million baht in damage plus 60 million baht for legal fees for a total of 9,130 million baht.”

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18 August 2020 : Group Lease Public Company Limited reports net profit of 55.05 million baht

Group Lease Public Company Limited reports net profit of 55.05 million baht

18 Aug 2020

Group Lease Public Company Limited reported 2Q2020 net profit of 55.05 million baht. The Company will continue its smart growth strategy as core business operations remain profitable

Mr. Alain Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed “the Company recorded profit of 55.05 million baht in 2Q2020 as we reduced operating and financing costs by more than 75 million baht compared to 2Q2019. Unfortunately, we still had 21 million baht in legal expenses, but this is a decline compared to last year and last quarter. The largest issue for this quarter was Covid-19 and the lockdowns that occurred in Thailand and across the world. The situation also impacted our ability to generate new sales during the quarter as the lockdown and reduced business activity resulted in a sharp decline in April sales, which have since overall mostly recovered. April was also the toughest month for us in terms of collecting payment, however we collected much better than we expected and collection has been improving since April. Overall during this quarter, collection was much better than anticipated. In Thailand, we have approved nearly 10,000 interest moratoriums as we try to help our customers during this time.

Outside Thailand, we continue to focus on microfinance lending in Myanmar which was flat during this time—though income from group loans is up 3% compared to last year mostly due to foreign exchange. While we have come to expect high growth in Myanmar, they did have a long lockdown due to the virus which reduced our ability to meet new customers. We expect growth to soon resume to our normal high levels.

While some factors are out of our control, our more efficient business operations are improving business performance and resulting in a profitable GL even during this period.

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “thankfully we spent the last few years becoming more efficient and only just before Covid-19 did we restart growth. While Covid-19 delayed our growth this quarter, now that we understand the situation better, we are looking forward to restarting smart growth again and taking advantage of the large amount of cash we have—more than 3.1 billion baht.

One of the ways we began our efficient, smart growth was by offering “Service at Home” to our Motor for Cash and Car for Cash customers. Instead of having customers come to our branch, our team would go to their home, inspect the vehicle, and complete all tasks there. This was launched in the second half of last year and has continued to be popular as many customers prefer to do business at their home. Thanks to initiatives such as this, we disbursed more Motor for Cash product in June this year than we did in June last year. It really shows what a terrific job our team has been doing.

We had a profitable quarter and look forward to delivering many more for our shareholders.”

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31 July 2020 : Civil Court of Thailand rejects JTA’s request for an injunction against GL

Civil Court of Thailand rejects JTA's request for an injunction against GL

31 Jul 2020

J Trust Asia (“JTA”) applied for an injunction against Group Lease in Thailand in March 2020 and today the Thai court denied JTA’s request and dismissed their injunction application.

Previously in March 2020, GL terminated the $50 million CD with JTA due to JTA’s intentional and bad faith actions against GL. JTA has had its rehabilitation claims in Thailand dismissed multiple times and JTA was ordered to pay damages of THB 685.5 million (more than USD $20 million) to GL that arose from the automatic stay put on GL as the court found that JTA acted in bad faith by filing a false rehabilitation claim.

The Thai court decision of JTA to pay THB 685.5 million to GL related only to JTA’s first automatic stay against GL. JTA, unsuccessfully, continued their rehabilitation claim against GL which resulted in GL being under a second automatic stay for nearly half of 2019, which caused an estimated THB 2,380 million (more than USD $72 million) in damage to GL. These two damage claims against JTA by GL total more than THB 3 billion (more than USD $93 million). GL has set-off the amount due from the terminated CD with these damages.

Due to GL’s decision to terminate the CD and offset it with damages caused by JTA, JTA asked the Thai courts for an injunction against GL in the amount of $ 50 million. Today, the courts denied JTA’s request.

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31 July 2020 : GL Shareholder, APFH, filed lawsuit against JTA for Wrongful Acts

GL Shareholder, APFH, filed lawsuit against JTA for Wrongful Acts

31 Jul 2020

On July 24, 2020, A. P. F. Holdings Company Limited (APFH), as a shareholder of GL, filed with the Thai Civil Court a civil claim against J Trust Company Limited, JTrust Asia Pte. Ltd. plus three other people, and filed a Motion requesting the Court to adopt class action procedure in order to allow GL shareholders who held shares during the period set out by the Court (from March 13, 2017 to present) to receive compensation for the loss of earning on the same basis as claimed by APFH, ie the loss of earning at the rate of THB 16.94 per share multiplied by the number of shares held by each class member during March 13, 2017 to present, regardless of whether such shares have now been sold or not. The result will be equal to the loss of earning sustained by each class member. In addition, the claim includes an interest at the rate of 7.5 percent per annum from the date of the claim (July 24, 2020). The Court has scheduled a hearing for examination of the Class Action Motion to be held on September 14, 2020, at 9.00 am.

APFH has requested GL to publish this news release update for initial acknowledgement by shareholders so that if the Court orders to adopt the class action procedure, the shareholders who exist as the class members pursuant to such Court order will be entitled to indemnity in the statement of claim. APFH’s legal team is now gathering information of shareholders and will provide them with details of their entitlements and procedure to be followed.

 

Should you require any additional information,

DLA Piper (Thailand) Ltd.

(Class Action) 47th Floor, Unit 4707, Empire Tower 1

South Sathon Road, Yannawa Subdistrict

Sathon District, Bangkok 10120

please contact:

Tel: 02 686 8590

Email: [email protected]

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22 June 2020 : With Strong cash flow, GL completes convertible debenture repayment. Now ready to accelerate the business expansion.

With Strong cash flow, GL completes convertible debenture repayment. Now ready to accelerate the business expansion.

22 Jun 2020

With strong cash flow in hand over 3.2 billion baht, Group Lease Public Company Limited completes convertible debenture repayment to Creation Investment Company worth over 700 million baht including interest. Now GL is ready to accelerate the business expansion both inbound and abroad. One of many projects is Car and Motorcycle for Cash from Thanaban, a subsidiary company of GL. Believe the market continues to grow well

Mr. Alain Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, said “on Friday, 19 June 2020, Group Lease fully repaid Creation Investments for the convertible debentures (CD) they held. Earlier this year, Group Lease and Creation mutually agreed to reschedule the original repayment of 30 March 2020 to be over the course of this year with full repayment in September 2020. This allowed Group Lease more flexibly in managing cash flow during the Covid-19 epidemic, which besides affecting the economies in which Group Lease operates, has also resulted in delays in legal proceedings and court decisions. We are pleased to announce that despite the Covid-19 impact on our business , we have fully repaid Creation Investments early.

We appreciate our partner Creation for working with us and giving us the additional financial flexibility. We have had a professional relationship with them for many years and it is reassuring to have a business partner that can work with us during these unique times. In the past year, we have successfully repaid both our Thai bond and Creation Investments.”

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “while the COVID-19 epidemic impacts the global economy, we are maintaining full business operations. We have maintained full employment and anticipate no layoffs or business reduction due to the conservative approach we took during 2018 and 2019. The cost efficiencies and reduction of our business size have put Group Lease in a good position to emerge stronger and better prepared from the COVID-19 impacts once the strictest economic restrictions have dissipated.

We have been challenging with various issues for the last 2 years and while it has been difficult, it forced us to be more disciplined, focused and able to adapt to a changing environment. These lessons, have readied us to deal with the current COVID-19 environment and they will allow us to continue to fight, survive, and thrive. Today, we are ready to expand our business base both at home and abroad. At the same time, Thanaban Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Group Lease create a “Car and Motorcycle for cash” project which is a service for registration car and motorcycles with low-interest rates, high credit limit, and fast approval, to expands the customer base to groups of customers who need urgent money to enhance liquidity in this situation.”

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18 May 2020 : Group Lease Public Company Limited reported core business operations remain profitable in 1Q2020, however recorded a net loss of 115.42 million baht due to extraordinary expenses

Group Lease Public Company Limited reported core business operations remain profitable in 1Q2020, however recorded a net loss of 115.42 million baht due to extraordinary expenses

18 May 2020

Group Lease Public Company Limited reported 1Q2020 net loss of 115.42 million baht due to extraordinary expenses such as legal costs, exchange rate losses, and a special Covid-19 provision which all negatively impacted net profit. The Company has already proactively taken steps to reduce the impact of Covid-19 and will continue its smart growth strategy as core business operations remain profitable

Mr. Alain Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed “the Company lost 115.42 million baht in 1Q2020 mainly due to an increase in extraordinary expenses namely 28 million baht in legal costs, a special 82 million baht provision due to Covid-19, and 52 million baht in unrealized losses of exchange rate. Those 3 extraordinary expenses total more than 163 million baht and without those we would have been profitable this quarter. No one expected this economic downturn caused by Covid-19, but thankfully, we have focused the last 2 years becoming more efficient. In Thailand, we are now working with 17% more dealers than a year ago. This has proven effective as in March as the crisis began, we changed our hire purchase credit policy in Thailand, which should allow us to maintain good quality customers even as the economy worsens. Year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, our operating expenses have declined which will serve us well during this shaky economic period.

In the asset-backed loan business, the actions taken to increase the efficiency show good result with an increase of contracts by 73% per branch with a lower cost.

Outside Thailand, our focus is on microfinance lending which continues to grow and perform well—income from group loans is up 27% compared to last year. While currently the legal fees, Covid-19 special provision, and unrealized losses on exchange rate gain the headlines as they impact net profit now, our improving business performance will impact the headlines in the future.”

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “while we spent the last few years becoming more efficient and building a strong foundation, last year we started to focus again on growth and continued that for this first quarter. While the economic situation is unclear, we have more than 3.2 billion baht in cash to ride out the economic storm and we can pick where and when to invest in good customers. Our focus will be to continue to grow, but we will take good market share and be picky because our strong business foundation allows it. As our CFO stated, we only made a loss this quarter due to non-cash expenses: unrealized exchange rate losses and a special provision for Covid-19. Legal cost for now continue to impact the bottom line.

Our business operations are still profitable, our cash position is large, and we look forward to delivering great results in the near future.”

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17 April 2020 : GL and Creation reschedule Convertible Debenture repayment; GL expects to use financial flexibility to get through COVID-19 situation even stronger

GL and Creation reschedule Convertible Debenture repayment; GL expects to use financial flexibility to get through COVID-19 situation even stronger

17 Apr 2020

Creation Investments held $20 million in convertible debentures (CD) due 30 March 2020. Earlier this month, Group Lease and Creation mutually agreed to reschedule the repayment over the course of this year instead of one lump sum payment. This will allow Group Lease more flexibly in managing cash flow during the Covid-19 epidemic, which besides affecting the economies in which Group Lease operates, has also resulted in delays in legal proceedings and court decisions. After a series of legal victories including in Singapore and Thailand, we were expecting further decisions during this year, however courts in both Singapore and Thailand will delay their decisions due to Covid-19.

We appreciate our partner Creation for continuing to work with us and giving us additional financial flexibility. We have had a professional relationship with them for many years and it is reassuring to have a business partner that can work with us during these challenging times.

As a result of Group Lease and Creation agreeing to a gradual repayment this year, Group Lease repaid $7.5 million in principal on 14 April 2020 plus interest due per the terms of the original CD agreement. Furthermore, Group Lease will repay $2.5 million in principal monthly starting May 2020, concluding the full repayment in September 2020. Interest will accrue at 7% per annum and will be due along with the final principal payment in September 2020.

While the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the global economy is currently unknown, we are maintaining full business operations in compliance with the current lockdowns in some of our markets. We have maintained full employment so far and anticipate no layoffs or business reduction due to the conservative approach we took during the 2018 and 2019 period. The cost efficiencies and reduction of our business size plus the additional flexibility from our agreement with Creation will put Group Lease in a better position to emerge stronger and better prepared from the COVID-19 impacts once the strictest economic restrictions have dissipated.

We have been fighting various issues for the last 2 years and while it has been difficult, it forced us to be more disciplined, focused and able to adapt to a changing environment. These lessons, have readied us to deal with the current COVID-19 environment and they will allow us to continue to fight, survive, and thrive.

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23 March 2020 : $50 million CD to JTA Terminated, Any Potential Payment Now a Matter for the Courts of Thailand

$50 million CD to JTA Terminated, Any Potential Payment Now a Matter for the Courts of Thailand

23 Mar 2020

On February 28, 2020, Group Lease sent a notice to JTrust Asia notifying JTA that they had breached the Investment Agreement for the $50 million convertible debenture with GL. JTA has intentionally and in bad faith engaged in various actions to obstruct GL’s the use of these funds and interfered with GL’s business operations. On March 16, 2020, GL sent a Notice of Termination to JTA for the $50 million CD on account of JTA’s failure to remedy any damages against which GL has suffered from JTA’s wrongful acts.

Additionally, JTA claimed in Thailand that the CD is void. Thus under JTA’s view, the CD no longer has any terms or obligations between JTA and GL, including no maturity. Both GL and JTA now agree that the CD is either void or terminated. Therefore, the obligation of GL to JTA is unclear and is now a matter for the courts of Thailand.

GL would like to make clear that we have the complete capacity to repay the original principal and interest, however due to the actions taken by JTA and under Thai law, any payments by GL to JTA would be deemed as groundless payments and GL would not be entitled to recognize the amount paid. So GL must now wait until the issue is resolved by the Thai courts before paying any amount.

JTA has had its rehabilitation claims in Thailand dismissed multiple times and JTA was recently ordered to pay damages of THB 685.5 million to GL as the court found that JTA acted in bad faith by filing a false rehabilitation against GL. JTA also claimed in Singapore that GL dishonestly misrepresented its financials, but the Singapore High Court dismissed all of JTA’s claims last month. JTA’s actions have not been defensible and have been used in bad faith specifically to cause harm to GL.

These actions and others by JTA have caused severe financial and reputational damage to GL as well as its subsidiaries and related parties. GL reserves the right to claim further damages against JTA and GL will not hesitate to exercise such rights to fulfil our obligation to our shareholders and stakeholders, however we welcome JTA to work with us on a solution to our issues rather than them continuing their bad faith legal strategy.

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06 March 2020 : Thai Courts rule JTA acted in bad faith, orders JTA to pay THB 685.5 million to GL

Thai Courts rule JTA acted in bad faith, orders JTA to pay THB 685.5 million to GL

06 Mar 2020

On March 5, 2020, the Civil Court in Thailand ruled that that JTA acted in bad faith by filing the false rehabilitation petition against Group Lease in Thailand. The Court also ruled that JTA’s actions caused damages and ordered JTA to pay THB 685.5 million, including lawyer fees, to GL as of March 5, 2020.

GL took civil action against JTA due to JTA’s unjustified attempt to force GL into rehabilitation, even though it is clear GL does not meet the standards for rehabilitation. On August 15, 2019, the Central Bankruptcy Court dismissed the JTA submitted rehabilitation petition against GL for the second time. The court looked at three factors when deciding to dismiss the case:

  1. The amount of GL debt owed to JTA
  2. The amount of GL’s assets compared to GL’s liabilities
  3. The ability of GL to operate the business

Upon looking at those three factors, the court ruled that the amount GL owes JTA is unclear due JTA’s legal actions, GL has assets exceeding its liabilities and therefore is not insolvent, and finally that GL was able to operate the business as usual and therefore dismissed JTA’s petition.

We are pleased the Civil Court agreed that JTA acted in bad faith and caused damage to our company. We hope JTA learns from this case and stops litigating in bad faith. After last month’s decision at the High Court of Singapore in the favor of Group Lease, and today’s decision, it strengthens our argument to continue to fight for compensation for all damages JTA has done and continues to do to GL.

 

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