STX Offshore & Shipbuilding (O&S) and STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships and is 66% owned by the shipyard group, may be sold as a package by a South Korean bankruptcy court, reports say.
Previously, the court had considered a separate sale of STX O&S’s stake in the French yard via Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Rumoured interest from an unnamed British company reportedly caused the change of plan, according to Korea’s Pulse News.
The proposed sale could generate up to KRW 1tr ($906m) if it goes ahead. The package will be reportedly proposed by the Seoul Central District Court at a creditors’ meeting on on October 14.
A sale of the French yard will, however, require approval from the French government, which owns the remaining 33.34% in Saint-Nazaire facility. STX relies on French technology for building cruise ships.
The Goseong Offshore & Shipbuilding, STX’s local unit in South Korea, could also be included in the package deal.
STX O&S filed for court protection in May. Investment banks submitted their final due diligence report to the bankruptcy court in August, which concluded that STX’s going-concern value would be KRW 1.26tr ($1.2bn). The group’s liquidation value was assessed at just KRW 918.5bn ($828.1m).
