[Exclusive] '1st Generation Touch Panel' ELK Declared Bankrupt After 5-Year Rehabilitation Process

ELK Corporation, once a KOSDAQ-listed company that led the domestic touch screen panel (TSP) industry, has ultimately been declared bankrupt after a five-year rehabilitation process.

The Daejeon District Court announced on the 2nd that it had declared ELK Corporation (CEO Shin Dong-hyuk) bankrupt. The court determined that ELK had no further prospect of rehabilitation, ending the corporate rehabilitation process and converting it to bankruptcy proceedings. ELK, which received the bankruptcy sentence this time, is a specialized electronic components manufacturing company established in 1999. Headquartered on Techno 2-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, the company grew by primarily producing touch screen panels (TSP) used in smartphones and tablet PCs.

With the rapid growth of the smartphone market in the late 2000s, ELK was recognized for its technological prowess by supplying components to global companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. In 2007, it was listed on the KOSDAQ market and gained attention as a 'hidden champion.' However, profitability deteriorated sharply due to intensifying competition from the low-price offensive of Chinese companies and strategic changes by major clients. Ultimately unable to overcome its financial difficulties, ELK filed for the initiation of rehabilitation proceedings in 2019 and suffered the pain of being delisted from the KOSDAQ market in April 2020 due to reasons such as a disclaimer of audit opinion.

The company continued its efforts for rehabilitation for about five years afterward, but it ultimately failed to achieve management normalization and is now taking steps toward liquidation 26 years after its founding due to this bankruptcy declaration.
Moving forward, the bankruptcy trustee plans to proceed with the process of selling ELK's remaining assets and distributing dividends to creditors in accordance with the resolution of the creditors' meeting.