Pacific Andes International Holdings Limited was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, 26 August, though the company’s appeal of the decision is pending.
Trading of the company’s shares was halted in November 2015 and the company filed for bankruptcy in July 2016.
The delisting comes after the Hong Kong-based company which was once the twelfth-largest seafood firm in the world in value, delayed filing audited financial statements for several quarters. Pacific Andes has explained the delays as being a result of an ongoing forensic review of the company’s finances by independent auditor RSM Corporate Advisory. In an April filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Pacific Andes said it was also awaiting the approval of its restructuring plan by the judge overseeing its bankruptcy case in the United States.
“Once a restructuring plan has been confirmed by the court, and announced on the stock exchange, the company will comply with the relevant listing rule requirements, including seeking the stock exchange’s approval to and the issuing of a circular to shareholders and the convening of a special general meeting of shareholders to approve the restructuring plan along with other ancillary matters,” it said. “Once shareholders’ approval of the plan has been obtained, the company’s objective is to publish outstanding financial statements, inform the market of all material information, and at that time apply to the stock exchange for resumption of trading in its shares.”
However, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had set a deadline of 31 July for the company to meet its listing requirements, and when that deadline was not met, it proceeded with its process for delisting the company’s shares from the exchange. On 10 July, Pacific Andes filed for a six-month extension of its deadline to meet the requirements “given the substantial progress that has been made towards a restructuring of the group,” but the request was denied.
On 9 August, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange declared the company’s last day of public trading to be 23 August, with cancelation scheduled for 26 August. On 14 August, Pacific Andes submitted a request to have the decision reviewed by the stock exchange’s listing committee, and that request remains under review.
Pacific Andes trades under the stock code #1174 and its shares were trading at HKD 0.15 (USD 0.02, EUR 0.01).
Photo courtesy of Robert Cicchetti/Shutterstock
