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Amkor Under Fire for Missing SEC Deadline
Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 8/15/2006
Amkor Technology Inc. is coming under fire from the Nasdaq U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo for not filing its Form 10-Q to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by last week's deadline.
The company has received a Nasdaq staff determination notice stating that the company has not filed its Q2 quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which it postponed for stock option related questions.
The Nasdaq staff determination notice said that Amkor's securities will be delisted from the Nasdaq stock market unless Amkor requests a hearing before a Nasdaq listing qualifications panel. Amkor plans to request a hearing to review the staff determination, and pending a decision by the hearing panel, Amkor's common stock will remain listed on the Nasdaq national market.
"There can be no assurance that the hearing panel will grant the company's request for continued listing," the company warned in a statement.
In addition, Amkor has received letters from U.S. Bank's National Association and Wells Fargo Bank's National Association alleging that the failure of Amkor to file its quarterly report constitutes a default under the indentures governing a total of eight notes.
The letters also allege that the failure by Amkor to remedy the default within 60 days will result in the occurrence of an "event of default" under the indentures in which the trustee or holders of at least 25 percent in aggregate principal amount of the affected notes could attempt to declare all related unpaid principal and premium, if any, and accrued interest on such series of notes then outstanding to be immediately due and payable. There is approximately $1.62 billion of aggregate unpaid principal outstanding of the above mentioned notes, the company said.
On July 26, Amkor announced that its board of directors had established a special committee of independent directors to review the company's historical stock option practices. In its statement, Amkor said it is focusing "significant effort" on completing its options review in order to file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q on or before October 9 to avoid any purported event of default.
Amkor is not the only company facing SEC form problems. It sits on a growing list of companies that have failed to file SEC forms in time due to stock options backdating investigations prompted by the current shakedown in the tech industry. Among the other companies affected are Asyst, which delayed its 10-K filing in late July, Apple, which delayed its form 10-Q last week, and PMC-Sierra, which delayed its 10-Q this week.
