You may recognise the quote in the title from the film "Ron Burgundy – Anchorman" about our favourite newsreader from San Diego in the 80's. Of course he was talking about a street fight with news teams from other San Diego stations but could just as easily been talking about the seemingly sudden financial demise of the Hanjin shipping line.
In 2009, a certain savings bank (“S Savings Bank”) issued subordinated bonds (the “Subordinated Bonds”). Subsequently, the Financial Services Commission designated it as an insolvent financial institution and issued a management reform order, which included the suspension of its business. Eventually, bankruptcy proceedings were commenced against S Savings Bank in around 2011, and the representative director of S Savings Bank was indicted for financial statement fraud and eventually found guilty.
Since the inauguration of electronic litigation or e-litigation (hereinafter “e-litigation”) services for patent cases in April 2010, the Korean Supreme Court has gradually expanded the scope of availability of e-litigation services to civil, family law and administrative cases, and provisional attachment and injunction cases. With the completion of the e-litigation system for rehabilitation and bankruptcy cases, those proceedings and their ancillary proceedings can be administered electronically from April 28, 2014, as described below.
The Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act (“DRBA”) amended on October 15, 2014 for the purpose of prohibiting business owners responsible for the bankruptcy of a company from reacquiring such company under reorganization through individual(s) who have aligned economic interests after the company receives a large amount of debt relief though rehabilitation proceedings, will be enacted on January 16, 2015.
“Workout” in Korea is generally accepted as an out-of-court corporate restructuring process aimed at speedy business normalization of financially distressed companies by cooperation between the debtor company and its creditors.
On 19 May 2016, the National Assembly passed the bill to amend the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act (“DRBA”). Key amendments include (1) improvements to the early proposed rehabilitation plan submission policy; (2) broadened scope of creditor participation in the proceedings; and (3) stronger protection of creditors with commercial claims. The revised DRBA is expected to enter into force 3 months after promulgation.
I. Improvements to the early rehabilitation plan proposal submission policy
On 27 May 2016, South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. ("STX OS"), once the country's fourth-largest shipbuilding firm by revenue, filed for court-supervised rehabilitation, in the Seoul Central District Court.
I. Hanjin Shipping applies for rehabilitation proceedings
As you may be aware, one of South Korea's largest shipowners, Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (“Hanjin”), has applied for court rehabilitation in Korea. On 1 September 2016 the Seoul Central District Court (Bankruptcy Division 6) issued a decision accepting that application and commencing rehabilitation proceedings.
Based on our experience in dealing with recent rehabilitations involving the Korean shipping industry and working closely with Korean lawyers, we set out below a few guidance points.
What is a Korean Court Rehabilitation?
- Implications of Supreme Court 2012Do1283 (rendered June 14, 2012)
Regarding the acquisition of a company under reorganization according to the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act, the Supreme Court ruled on June 14, 2012 that the general principles of a leverage buy-out ("LBO") should apply.