The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) is looking to sell its entire 67.27% shareholding in shipbuilder Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering through a public bidding process in an effort to reorganise the yard.
Korea Eximbank said it will start the process of collecting preliminary bidding proposals and it expects to secure a price of around KRW300bn ($265m) from the sale.
Amid the downturn in the domestic shipbuilding sector financial authorities in South Korea have been considering ways to restrcture small and medium-sized shipbuilders such as Dae Sun, Sungdong Shipbuilding and STX Shipbuilding.
Dae Sun has been undergoing a prolonged debt restructuring process since 2010. The shipyard was delisted from the Korea Exchange in 2011 and sold its second shipyard in Busan in 2014 as part of its efforts to downsize operations.
Dae Sun specialises in small chemical tankers. It received new orders for 11 vessels this year, increasing the shipyard’s backlog to 24 vessels.
