A SOUTH Korean court has ended Hanjin Shipping Co.'s 40-year run by declaring it bankrupt and ordering the liquidation of the shipping line, which was once ranked the nation's biggest and the world's seventh-largest container shipper.
The Seoul Central District Court declared Hanjin Shipping bankrupt after ruling earlier this month that the firm's liquidation value would be worth more than its value as a going concern. The company was put under court receivership in September last year, as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, rejected its self-rescue plan.
Earlier, an accounting firm estimated the liquidation value of the shipping line, which was founded in 1977, at KWR1.79 trillion won (US$1.56 billion) saying that the liquidation of the troubled shipper is "more economical," rather than continuing its rehabilitation scheme, reports South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
The court said in a statement it has chosen a bankruptcy administrator, and claims by creditors are due by May 1, 2017. The first meeting of creditors will be held on June 1, 2017.
"The court will, through the bankruptcy process, make efforts so the maximum of debt repayment will be conducted in a way that is fair and balanced to the creditors," it said.
