Pantech filed for court receivership today, which is the South Korean equivalent of declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company has seen its share of the global market drop precipitously. More importantly, it is no longer able to compete against the likes of LG and Samsung in its home market, according to The Wall Street Journal, where a month long sales ban further crippled the company.
Pantech has spent the last few years juggling with its finances. Last year, it accepted investments from Samsung and Qualcomm, which own 10% and 12% of the company, respectively. Even with these investments, Pantech owes creditors about $961 million – or double the amount of assets its has. Pantech only brought three models to the U.S. in 2013, and hasn’t brought any in 2014.
If Pantech’s court receivership is accepted by the bank, it will have about a year to come up with a restructuring plan
