Vietnamese bank willing to buy shipbuilder's dollar loan

A domestic bank in Vietnam is willing to buy back the debt of Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group at 35 percent of its face value, or $210 million, compared with the original $600 million.

It will pay immediately.

Vinashin gave foreign creditors two options -- either accept 35 percent of monies owed now, or agree to new repayment terms and conditions of the loan in the future.

Vietnam’s government has spent the last year wrestling with the near-bankruptcy of Vinashin, whose default on foreign- currency borrowings at the end of 2010 raised doubts about asset quality at the country’s banks, according to Moody’s Investors Service.