Serrano CEO declared bankrupt

THE chief executive officer and executive director of interior design contractor Serrano Ltd has been declared bankrupt by the court.

Catalist-listed Serrano said on Friday morning that the court had a bankruptcy order made against Chia Wing Keong after a hearing on Thursday. The proceedings were initiated by Bank of East Asia.

Mr Chia has thus vacated his post as Serrano's director and CEO. He will also cease to act as director in all other Singapore-incorporated companies, including those of the company's subsidiaries, as well as in the company's associated company, Serrano (Thailand) Ltd, which is incorporated in Thailand. No replacement CEO has been announced by Serrano.

This development comes a month after Chia Wing Hock, a former executive director at Serrano and brother of Chia Wing Keong, was declared bankrupt by the court in November. He was also removed from his post.

Separately, Serrano also announced on Friday that the hearing date for its schemes of arrangement for corporate debt restructuring has been adjourned to Jan 5, 2017.

It has requested a lifting of the trading halt on its shares. The shares last traded on Dec 14 at 0.3 Singapore cents apiece.