Seoul Central District Court terminated the rehabilitation proceedings of Hanjin Shipping yesterday on February 2, 2017 following public announcements by Hanjin Shipping that it has completed disposal of its shares in Hanjin Shipping Tec. Inc. (HTEC) and Total Terminals International (TTI) earlier on the same day.

The Court may declare Hanjin Shipping bankrupt on February 17, 2017 at the earliest after elapse of two-weeks appeal period, subject to delay in case appeal is made to the courts.

The Korea Exchange has halted trading of Hanjin Shipping shares since 11:24AM on February 2, 2017, a few hours before the Court made the termination decision, in response to rumors that the Court inquired opinion on terminating the proceedings to the creditors to Hanjin Shipping as voluntary condition precedent to termination of rehabilitation proceedings. Hanjin Shipping shares will be delisted automatically upon declaration of bankruptcy by the Court.

As noted in our previous newsletter, an interesting issue to follow is whether temporary protection Hanjin Shipping has obtained in relation to the rehabilitation proceedings in other jurisdictions would be extended to Hanjin Shipping's subsequent liquidation proceedings although with few assets left to dispose, the impact of other jurisdictions' stance on scope of temporary protection will be limited.

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