Sharp's creditor banks have said they were also not aware of the size of the contingent liabilities until the last minute, separate sources familiar with matter said.
The court further ordered the borrowers who filed the petitions to pay one percent of their outstanding amounts as costs to the creditor banks and other non-banking financial institutions.
This forced the liquidation of the portfolio, some of it at fire-sale prices, but most in a more orderly fashion via an arrangement with the creditor banks to avoid bankruptcy.
After missing various deadlines to repay loans to creditor banks, speculation was rife that the company wouldn't be able to service the rest of its obligations.
Creditor banks took some control over the organization and lent additional monies to the business and controlled the corporate recovery to some degree.