VICTORIAS Milling Corp. (VMC), a listed sugar refiner, has converted creditor debt into equity in line with its 2002 restructuring agreement, a Philippine Stock Exchange filing showed on Thursday.

VMC, whose shares remain suspended from trading, said it converted a total of P310.05 million worth of notes into 301.05 million shares, or a ratio P1 per common share. Creditors that subscribed to the shares were Asset Pool A Inc., ADRC Cayman Ltd. and CVI GVF (Lux) Master SARL.

“The application of conversion was pursuant to the provision of the debt restructuring agreement covering buyers of note holders, who are mandated to convert to the extent as provided in the scheduled of conversion,” the company said in the disclosure.

The company would have 1.91 billion outstanding shares post issuance to creditors.  

VMC filed for corporate rehabilitation in 1997 after it was forced to suspend debt payments due to the effects of the Asian financial crisis.

It earlier reported that sales in the first nine months of its fiscal year ending May declined 13.4 percent to P3.23 billion while net income dropped by almost half to P705.83 million compared to the same period in 2010.

The company is also selling non-core assets to improve its financial performance. VMC Chairman Omar Byron Mier said in February that the company was in talks to sell its food processing and canning unit Victorias Foods Corp.

Shares of the company last traded on October 8, 1997 at P0.29 each. The company was established in 1919 while its sugar milling facilities are in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. Its other operating subsidiaries include Canetown Development Corp., Victorias Quality Packaging Corp., Victorias Golf & Country Club Inc., and Victorias Agricultural Land Corp.

Filipino-Chinese billionaire Lucio Tan controls at least a fifth of VMC through listed firms Tanduay Holdings Inc. and Philippine National Bank.