Onkyo Home Entertainment the Company whose branded receivers are sold at Harvey Norman has filed for bankruptcy.
Established in 1946, Onkyo became a popular brand in Australia until the business got into trouble.
During COVID they struggled to deliver stock to retailers, the brand was previously distributed by share listed Company Ambertech, until Vox International took over distribution of the brand via Premium Audio Products in Australia.
The bankruptcy filing late on Friday at Osaka District Court in Japan revealed that the business owed over A$30M to suppliers.
The Japanese company was delisted in August 2021 from the Osaka stock exchange.
Two additional Onkyo subsidiaries that handled original equipment manufacturing — such as assembling speakers have also filed for bankruptcy.
Onkyo sold its core home audio-visual business to Sharp and U.S.-based Voxx International and its earphones and headphones business to an investment fund last year as things “got desperate” said one observer.
The company told Nikkei Asia it “tried to maintain business on a smaller scale but could not stop cash-flow problems from worsening.”
In January 2021, when Onkyo’ s capital deficit raised the possibility of a delisting, shareholders approved a plan to grant stock options to an investment fund in the Cayman Islands to raise up to 6.2 billion yen in fresh equity.
But only some of the options were exercised, resulting in a second consecutive asset deficiency in the fiscal year ended March 2022, which is grounds for delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
“We explored every possible way [to continue business] but could not pay off our debts,” the company said.