BB Sunrise Power, which was established in 2019 with charter capital of VND500 billion, is a subsidiary of BB Power Holdings, a member of BB Group, which operates in many business fields. 

BB Group’s president is Vu Quang Bao, who is also the leader of Bitexco Group, and the younger brother of businessman Vu Quang Hoi.

The BB Group-Bitexco ecosystem is selling assets to make bond payments worth trillions of dong that are due.

According to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), BB Sunrise Power has announced a sale of collateral to pay for a BBSP.H.20.23.001 lot of bonds. The decision was made after BB Sunrise Power received approval from bondholders.

Victoria Sapa, owned by Victoria Sapa Hotel Co Ltd, is the collateral that is being used for the lot of bonds.

BB Sunrise Power plans to conduct a mortgage lien release and deregister secured transactions to transfer the hotel to a third party. The price of the hotel is estimated at VND210 billion. 

If the company succeeds with the transaction, it would have to pay about VND30 billion in taxes and expenses and have VND180 billion to pay bond principal and interest.

Victoria Sapa has been mortgaged at the Vietcombank Hanoi branch.

BB Sunrise Power issued the lot of bonds worth VND500 billion in late 2020. At first, these were 3-year bonds, but the term was extended to five years, and the interest rate was 10.3 percent per annum. Tan Viet Securities (TVSI) is the depository for the lot of bonds. 

BB Sunrise Power has on multiple occasions asked for a delay to pay its debts, saying that it could not arrange capital sources for payment.

Nearly VND23 billion worth of the BBSP.H.20.23.001 bonds have been redeemed, while VND477 billion is still in circulation.

BB Sunrise Power mainly operates in the field of power, and electricity transmission and distribution. The company has implemented hydropower projects in Ha Giang, Kon Tum, and several wind and solar power projects in Ninh Thuan.

Though power is considered a profitable business field, BB Sunrise Power has continuously reported losses.

The enterprise took a loss of VND134 billion in the first half of 2024, while the figure was VND248 billion in the same period last year. In 2022, it made a modest profit of VND220 million, while it took a loss of VND67 billion one year before.

By the end of June 2024, BB Sunrise Power had reported stockholder equity of minus (-) VND222 billion, while liabilities had reached VND4.885 trillion, including VND477 billion worth of bond debts. 

In 2022, BB Sunrise Power three times could not pay VND47 billion in interest and VND500 billion in principal of the lot of bonds mentioned above. Bondholders then accepted to extend the payment deadline for two years, until December 22, 2025.

Under the agreement between BB Sunrise Power and bondholders, the former would have two campaigns of buying back the bonds (10 percent each) in 2024, and three campaigns of buying the remaining 80 percent in 2025. 

Prior to that, in late August, the parent company of BB Sunrise Power – BB Power Holdings – reported a loss of VND185 billion for the first half of 2024. The enterprise has also incurred losses in previous years. In 2023, BB Power Holdings took a loss of VND740 billion, while the figure was VND153 billion in 2022.

As of the end of June 2024, BB Power Holdings' assets had decreased by 22 percent compared to the same period last year, from VND2.423 trillion to VND1.89 trillion. BB Power Holdings had accounts payable of VND6.955 trillion and bond debt worth VND310 billion.

Besides the businesses belonging to the BB Group ecosystem, some businesses belonging to the Bitexco ecosystem of brothers Vu Quang Bao and Vu Quang Hoi are also facing difficulties.

Bitexco has transferred its contributed capital in Saigon Glory Co Ltd, the developer of the Once Central HCM project, which has been renamed The Spirit of Saigon, to Phuong Dong Hanoi Real Estate Co Ltd. The Spirit of Saigon is a 6-star hotel capitalized at $500 million.

Prior to that, Bitexco mortgaged its shares in Saigon Glory at banks to guarantee its duties for 10 bond packages (from SGL-2020.01 to SGL-2020.10) issued by Saigon Glory with total face value of VND10 trillion. According to FiinRatings, about VND200 trillion worth of bonds will reach maturity in one year.

Manh Ha