The South Korean shipping company HMM is controlled by the state, and a bidding competition last year was unsuccessful. Now the next round could begin.
What will happen to the South Korean liner shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)? After a first round of bids from several bidders, it appears that the company will remain under the management of state creditors. Now, however, an old interested party is back on the scene.
HMM, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, has been under the control of the South Korean state since 2016. At that time, the company’s lenders carried out a debt-for-equity swap to save it from bankruptcy. The government most recently held 67.5%, with Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBD) as the main creditors. In August, the government announced its intention to take full control of HMM.
Fishing company interested in takeover
Now the Dongwon Group – also South Korean and the country’s largest fishing company – has reiterated its interest in taking over HMM. It also took part in the first competition, but this was abandoned. According to South Korean media, it is now trying for the second time to acquire the shipping company for a maximum amount of 10 trillion KWR (approx. 5.83 billion KWR). KWR (approx. €5.83 billion).
The Harim Group and the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd were among the other parties interested in a takeover. Originally, HMM would have acquired KWR for €6.4 trillion. KWR to a South Korean consortium of Harim and JKL, but the takeover fell through and the shipping company remained under the administration of state creditors. In the first round, Dongwon had offered 6.2 bio. KWR in the first round, which is 200 billion KWR less than Harim.
HMM is currently valued at 8-10 trillion KWR. KWR. The company is in eighth place in the ranking of container liner shipping companies. With a total capacity that only recently exceeded 1 million TEU, HMM accounts for 3.1% of the market – lagging behind its nearest competitor Evergreen, which has 1.94 million TEU.
Another top 10 member on the table?
The South Korean shipping company is not the only “big player” on the market sailing in financially uncertain waters: Zim from Israel, in tenth place on the list with 700,000 TEU, could also be sold in the coming months. One of the interested parties, alongside the giants MSC and Maersk, is reportedly Hapag-Lloyd. The German shipping company is said to have submitted a bid for Zim. However, there is already resistance from Israel, as investors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia own significant shares in the Hamburg-based shipping company. (JW)
Source: http://worldmaritimenews.com