15 offers to buy all or part of Moulin's assets

Assets of Moulin Global Eyecare could go on sale as early as next weeks, according to sources familiar with the court-ordered liquidation of the company.

As many as 15 offers to buy all or part of Moulin's assets have been submitted. 'Some lenders to Moulin have learned from liquidators that the company's assets will be put on sale as early as next week or the week after next,'' a source said on July, 21st.

Roderick Sutton of provisional liquidator Ferrier Hodgson declined to comment but confirmed the existence of at least 15 potential buyers. 'Some are interested in only parts of the assets but others are interested in the whole business',' Sutton said. 'So it really depends on the offer we think is the best'.

As many as 29 banks are creditors of Moulin, the world's third-largest eyewear maker. Willie International Holdings, a securities and property trading firm formerly known as China United International, said in a filing with the stock exchange this month that it was in preliminary discussions about buying Moulin's mainland manufacturing operations.

A couple of weeks ago, though, Willie said it had yet to submit a formal indicative offer to the provisional liquidators. Sutton declined to say if Willie was among the 15 interested parties.

The Securities and Futures Commission plans to launch an investigation into whether Moulin manipulated its share price in the months prior to its collapse.

Moulin's debt amounted to more than HK$5.33 billion, of which HK$2.4 billion falls under the liquidation proceedings managed by Ferrier Hodgson.

Eye Care Centers of America, Moulin's US subsidiary, accounts for most of the remaining debt, but the unit, which is still said to generate positive cash flows, has been exempted from the winding-up proceedings.

(Source: The Standard)