Jinro Hong Kong

Jinro Hong Kong, the world's largest white spirit manufacturer, manufactures and distributes soju, a distilled spirit that is popular in Korea and Japan. A struggle emerged between the Korean and Hong estates over ownership and control of the Jinro Japanese business valued at more than US $500 million. The situation marked the first time a foreigner had petitioned a major Korean company for corporate reorganization. The company turned to Alvarez & Marsal to serve as Provisional Liquidator and Scheme Administrator of Jinro Hong Kong, a key Jinro subsidiary with up to US $120 million of debt, to find a balance between legal ownership and commercial reality.

The US $3.2 billion operational and debt restructuring was groundbreaking and set a new standard for Asian restructuring. A&M was subsequently honored with the 2004 Debt Restructuring of the Year award from International Financial Review. As a result of A&M's involvement, creditors received 100 percent of principal and interest in 2005 from a successful M&A bid. In addition, debt that had been trading at below 50 percent at the beginning of the project increased in value through accrued interest on floating rate notes to approximately 135 percent of principal in its final recovery to Jinro Hong Kong creditors.