The Miss Universe 2023 pageant has kicked off in El Salvador, with beauty queen beach runs, special moment charity events and a catalogue of branded swag for sale ahead of the grand finale on the evening of 18 November.

Little public mention is being made in these halls glamour of the furious behind-the-scenes activity in Bangkok, where finance and compliance teams at the Miss Universe Organisation’s Thai-listed owner, JKN Global Group, are in full business rehabilitation/bankruptcy protection mode.

The pageant so far fulfills a promise JKN Global made that the show would go on as planned when it put in motion the bankruptcy protection filing on 8/9 November, only days after the first anniversary of its high-profile US$20-million acquisition from IMG. 

This year’s event is the second under JKN Global, which acquired the property in October 2022. The 2022 competition was held in New Orleans in January this year because of pandemic-related delays in 2022.  

In a note tracking the progress of its business rehabilitation proceedings, the company told the Thai Stock Exchange yesterday that the matter would be presented to a hearing of Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court on 29 January 2024.

As part of the process, repayments and interest on debentures have been suspended.

The scheduled 8 December meetings with bond holders – including  Daol Securities and Asia Plus Securities, which both requested payment on 9/10 November – have been cancelled. 

Trouble has been brewing since August, when JKN said it would be negotiating with bond holders to reschedule debt repayments, due on 1 September.

Soon after the original filing last week, the company said it fully intended to continue its operation while being under the rehabilitation plan which is “a sustainable solution to the problem and to create profits in the future”.

JKN’s year to date stock price is down more than 90%. 

Without directly mentioning any business woes, JKN Global CEO, Anne Jakrajutatip, posted a note about starting over on her Instagram account yesterday, thanking fans for their love and kind support. 

“Don’t be afraid to start all over again. This time, you are not starting from scratch but from high-level experience,” said text laid over an image of her and her two children.   

In the post, she referred obliquely to the protection filing as events “in the recent global news”, and said this was “simply just another life chapter of mine which I learned on how to be extremely resilient and also how to turn pain into power. I’m not afraid to face with it and address it to the world,” she said, reminding her 6.7 million followers that she had “built everything from scratch myself and it’s time for me to transform everything back to the top again”. 

The comment received more than 12,000 likes.