Cash-strapped South Korean mobile-phone maker Pantech Co. filed for court receivership yesterday after its latest flagship smartphone failed to take off, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company, in which Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are major foreign shareholders, has been relying heavily on the South Korean market to sell its phones, where rivals like Samsung and LG Electronics Inc. are dominant players. Pantech said that it filed for court receivership — equivalent to chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. — after months of trying to restructure its debt. At the end of the first quarter, the company had 990.7 billion won ($961 million) in total debt, nearly double the amount it held in assets.
