SingPost US e-commerce units file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Singapore Post’s two loss-making US e-commerce logistics subsidiaries Jagged Peak and TradeGlobal have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to attract sufficient bids over the last six months.

The listed Asian postal group announced today that it received only two non-binding offers for the companies after a “comprehensive” sale process that initially drew interest from 105 parties that signed NDAs and then eight detailed ‘expressions of interest’.

However, “these offers were on terms and conditions that were commercially unfeasible to SingPost. Therefore, the sale process has now closed with no acceptable offers,” SingPost said in a stock exchange filing.

As a result, Jagged Peak, Inc., TradeGlobal North America Holding, Inc. and TradeGlobal LLC have now filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada.

Under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, the U.S. Subsidiaries intend to pursue the sale of all or substantially all of their assets, SingPost explained.

The postal group announced in April this year that it wanted to sell off the two loss-making U.S. e-commerce businesses, which originally cost nearly US$200 million in separate acquisitions. Neither acquisition paid off as the two firms posted a series of losses and proved a drag on the group’s more profitable businesses in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region.