Seoul: Fresh from posting its first operating profit in five years, Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) looks like it is shelving plans to sell off its dry bulk division.
HMM, which has also just pocketed $100m from a sale this week of two VLCCs to Sinokor, has responded to local media reports that it has canned its dry bulk fleet sale.
The proposed $550m sale of 13 ships plus six newbuilds attracted the interest of local line SK Shipping as well as Yuanta Securities from Taiwan, but no deal has been done. HMM told the Korea Exchange today that it was “still examining other solutions and no firm decision has been made”.
HMM has had to look to sell of parts of its diverse shipping empire to pay back spiralling debts.
