Financially strapped Winia Electronics placed into court receivership.

[Courtesy of Winia Electronics]

South Korean home appliance company Winia Electronics Co. has been placed into court receivership.

The Seoul Bankruptcy Court’s rehabilitation division 1 announced on Thursday that it will initiate corporate rehabilitation proceedings for the mid-size company, with Winia’s executive vice president appointed as its legal administrator, o representative of the debtor. The company’s contract manufacturer Winia Electronics Manufacturing also filed for court receivership and will also be placed in receivership. As the court decided not to appoint a separate administrator for Winia Electronics Manufacturing, the chief executive officer of Winia Electronics will be its legal administrator.

Winnia Electronics filed for receivership on September 20, with Winnia Electronics Manufacturing the following day.

The court will receive the lists of creditors, security holders, and shareholders for the two companies from Thursday to November 2, and will accept declarations of rehabilitation claims, rehabilitation security rights, and shares from November 3 to 16. After examining the declarations, the court will subsequently consider whether to approve the companies’ rehabilitation plan by January 11, 2024.

Winia Electronics, formerly known as Daewoo Electronics, was acquired by Dayou Winia Group in 2018 after Daewoo Group was disbanded during the 1997 financial crisis. Winia Electronics has struggled to recover and faced further challenges due to the shutdown of its Chinese factories during the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economic downturn. The company’s operating loss, which was 4.5 billion won ($3.32 million) in 2019, increased to 17.5 billion won in 2021.