SK Global under court receivership

SEOUL: Key South Korean creditors of SK Global agreed Monday to put the troubled trading unit of SK Group under court receivership in pursuit of a purely domestic bailout plan opposed by its foreign lenders.

"They unanimously endorsed the plan as proposed by Hana Bank to put SK Global under court receivership," Kwon In-ki of leading local creditor Hana Bank said after tense talks at a steering committee meeting of 12 main local creditors.

Kwon added that the decision to put SK Global into court receivership was inevitable as local creditors had failed to narrow their differences with their foreign counterparts over the firm's debt rescheduling.

SK Global's crisis began earlier this year when the firm admitted to inflating earnings by more than US$1.2 billion in 2001 to hide losses.

SK Global's total debt stood at 9.93 trillion won ($8.43 billion) at the end of June, according to Hana. SK Global's total assets were 5.59 trillion won at the end of last year. -- AFP