Speculations of a merger between two major Chinese shipbuilding conglomerates, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC); resurfaced today and Beijing seems to have already made up its decision on the issue.
Bloomberg is quoting an unnamed source saying China’s state council has given preliminary approval to merge two major state run shipbuilder in the country, however, the move could be subject to change as many details need to be ironed out by ministries and regulators.
Both CSSC and CSIC have declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Splash.
In the past year, both CSSC and CSIC have completed debt-to-equity swap measures to lower their debt ratios, which is said to be paving the way for the potential merger.
The merger follows a new round of state-owned enterprise mergers in recent years, including the merger between Baosteel and Wuhan Iron and Steel and two major power groups Shenhua Geoup and Guodian Group, and most notably the merger between the two top state-run shipping lines – Cosco and China Shipping.
CSSC and CSIC were spun off from the same group company by the central government in 1999. Combined as a single entity the group would be the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate.
