Image Courtesy: Hamburg hafen-HHM/Dietmar Hasenpusch
South Korean shipping company Hanjin Shipping has received approval from creditors to move forward with its voluntary restructuring proceedings, the company said in an exchange filing.
The approval comes after Hanjin submitted a formal request to restructure its debt with its seven lenders, led by state-run Korea Development Bank, on April 29.
The announcement serves as a confirmation of an already expected outcome for Hanjin which has accrued USD 4.39 billion in debt.
The restructuring is expected to facilitate the company’s push for normalization of operations along with discussions on charter rate reduction and alliance reorganization.
Namely, Hanjin is member of the CKYHE alliance between the Asian liners COSCON, ”K”Line, Yang Ming, and Evergreen Line, which is expected to be broken up in 2017 with the start of operation of the new container carrier alliance announced by CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line.
Financially-troubled Korean container carrier has been busy with efforts aimed at boosting its liquidity and the most recent turn of events saw Hanjin Shipping sell its remaining stake in H-Line Shipping for KRW 34 billion (USD 29.6 million).
The sale follows that of Hanjin’s office building in London in March for KRW 66.7 billion (USD 57.2 million).
Source: http://worldmaritimenews.com/