The path has now been cleared in South Korea for Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to take over local rival Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). State-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), which has a majority stake in DSME, said today Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has no intention of entering the race to buy DSME, leaving HHI as the sole candidate to take over the yard.
HHI and KDB will sign an official deal in early March with the bank’s 56% stake thought to be worth KRW2trn ($1.78bn).
Combined HHI and DSME will be the world’s largest shipbuilder by some distance with a joint order backlog giving it a 21.2% global market share as of the end of last year.