BANGKOK: The Thai media company that owns the Miss Universe pageant said on Thursday it had filed for bankruptcy while it was trying to resolve a “liquidity problem.”

The JKN Global Group made the announcement in a statement to the Southeast Asian kingdom’s stock exchange two months after it missed a deadline to repay bonds worth about $12 million.

The company, owned by media mogul and transgender rights campaigner Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, bought the pageant — previously owned by former US president Donald Trump and by events and media company IMG — in 2022 for $20 million.

The statement said its board of directors agreed on Tuesday to submit a business rehabilitation plan to the country’s bankruptcy court.

“Submitting the rehabilitation petition will effectively solve the Company’s liquidity problem under legal mechanism and provide fair protection to all stakeholders,” it said.

Operations will continue under the plan, it added.

The announcement comes days before the competition holds its 72nd edition in El Salvador, at the end of which current titleholder R’Bonney Gabriel of the United States will crown her successor.

Gabriel, a Texan whose father hails from the Philippines, is the ninth woman from the US to win the title.

JKN Global Group, owner of several digital channels and a production company, acquired Miss Universe in October 2022 for 20 million dollars from IMG Worldwide LLC, based in New York.

Former United States President Donald Trump co-owned the rights to the pageant from 1996 until its acquisition by IMG in 2015.

Miss Universe, held annually since 1952, is broadcast in more than 160 countries. The final of the next edition is set to take place in El Salvador on Nov. 18.

JKN Global announced in May that it had obtained revenues of 932 million baht ($26.2 million) and a profit of 73.6 million baht in the first quarter of 2023.

However, liquidity problems in recent months have caused its shares to fall on the stock market, including almost 30 percent on Thursday.