Debenture Note is interest-free loan to JTC that must be fully repaid

WE do not relish fighting a big corporation like JTC publicly in the media. The only reason we have done so is because we have tried, since February, to engage with JTC and have spelt out why it should look at this issue in a fair way. Unfortunately, our efforts have been to no avail.

We now refer to the article "JTC says noteholders had enjoyed cheaper club membership fees" (BT, Aug 31). We would like to make the following points:

1) According to the prospectus dated Aug 16, 1993 of Jurong Country Club Ltd (or JCCL, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of JTC), JTC wanted to sell a total of 280 new JCC memberships bundled together with the JCC Notes of S$120,000 each. However, JTC managed to sell only 196 memberships. It had a shortfall of 84 new memberships (30 per cent undersubscribed). It obviously means that the deal at that time was not "cheap" as otherwise all 280 would have been sold like "hot cakes".