Hyundai Heavy Industries’s planned takeover of compatriot Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has hit a speed bump in Southeast Asia.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has raised concerns on the proposed merger of the two South Korean shipbuilding giants.
“Third-party feedback suggests that the parties are currently two of the largest suppliers for the global supply of LNG carriers, and possibly large containerships and large oil tankers,” CCCS stated late on Friday.
“There are concerns that the proposed transaction will remove competition between two main suppliers of these commercial vessels, to the detriment of customers in Singapore,” CCCS said.
The yards have a right of reply to the concerns raised by the Singapore authorities and are understood to remain optimistic that the merger will happen.
Anti-trust approvals are ongoing around the world for the merger, which would create a shipbuilding behemoth controlling around 20% of the global orderbook.
