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)