AsiaShipyards

DSME pockets $58m from sale of ship design firm

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), a major Korean yard that is going through restructuring, announced on Friday that is has sold its 70% stake in a ship design firm, DSEC, to a local outfit, Keystone Private Equity. The yard has pocketed KRW70bn ($58.1m) from the sale. DSME also announced that on December 29 it will ussue KRW1trn in bonds with a 30-year maturity and an interest rate of 3%, in a bid to get its debt ratio to 900%.

DSME’s precarious financial position means it risks being delisted in Seoul unless it makes dramatic changes to its structure. Many other assets of DSME have been put up for sale including Mangalia, Romania’s largest shipyard, but no one has come in for that yet.

 

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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