Fiskaragung declared bankrupt
Fiskaragung declared bankrupt
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court declared publicly
listed PT Fiskaragung Perkasa bankrupt on Friday after the salt
producer failed to reach a debt restructuring agreement with its
creditors.
"The commercial court has to declare the defendant bankrupt
because 11 creditors, which make up the majority, have voted
against the defendant's debt restructuring proposal," said the
commercial court's verdict dated Nov. 26.
Fiskaragung was taken to court for bankruptcy in May by its 10
foreign creditors for the company's failure to repay its US$29
million in matured debts.
The court then granted in July a debt payment postponement to
the company, which gave it 270 days to negotiate the debt payment
with creditors.
The debt payment postpoment (PKPU) is a standstill period
during which Fiskaragung must come up with a debt-restructuring
proposal that can be approved by a majority vote of creditors.
According to the 1998 Law on Bankruptcy, a company facing a
bankruptcy suit can be temporarily exempted by filing a PKPU
request to the court, subject to majority approval from all
creditors.
If the request is approved, the company is given a maximum 270
days for its debt restructuring proposal to be approved and
signed by all its creditors, the law says.
However, the 270-day period can cease at any time by a
majority vote of creditors in a situation where a debt
restructuring proposal does not satisfy the creditors, said
Fiskaragung's lawyer Harry Ponto from Lontoh & Kailimang law
firm.
"In such cases, the company would immediately be declared
bankrupt," he added.
A company that is declared bankrupt out of the PKPU procedure
will lose its right to make an appeal, according to the
bankruptcy law.
He said despite the bankruptcy verdict, Fiskaragung could be
prevented from being liquidated by proposing another debt
restructuring proposal to creditors.
"There is a chance that creditors would still be interested in
working out deals and would let Fiskaragung continue operations
under a certain arrangement," he said.
The bankruptcy case against Fiskaragung was filed jointly on
May 14 by the 10 foreign creditors.
From Hong Kong, the creditors are Hanil Leasing & Finance (HK)
Ltd., Hanmi Leasing and Finance (HK) Ltd., KEB Leasing and
Finance Ltd., CBK Leasing and Finance (HK) Ltd., ORIX Asia
Limited and Hong Kong First Citicorp Leasing (HK) Ltd.
Kyongnam Bank of Korea and Kookmin Bank are both from South
Korea. AMMB International is from Malaysia and KDLC Leasing is
from Singapore.
Fiskaragung is the second publicly listed company which has
been declared bankrupt after Dharmala Agrifood. Several other
companies received similar verdicts, but they escaped the
bankruptcy decision at the appeals level. (udi)