A consortium led by Taekwang Industrial (003240.KS) has failed to acquire mid-sized shipbuilder K Shipbuilding, formerly STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.
Regarding the acquisition negotiations, Taekwang Industrial said in a regulatory filing that it “held discussions with the seller and the sale manager on the transaction structure and terms, but the gap between our proposal and the seller’s requests could not be narrowed, and we were notified by the sale manager today that the open competitive bidding process has concluded.”
Earlier, Taekwang Industrial formed a consortium to join the bid for the stake in K Shipbuilding, in which United Asset Management Company (UAMCO) and KHI each hold 49.79%.
UAMCO and KHI issued a public notice for the sale of K Shipbuilding through open competitive bidding last September. The Taekwang Industrial consortium participated alone in the main bidding in March and continued negotiations, but was not selected as the preferred bidder for the sale after failing to find common ground on the acquisition terms.
UAMCO and KHI plan to decide whether to pursue a resale after comprehensively considering market conditions and acquisition demand. Taekwang Industrial said it plans to review whether to make another bid if a resale is pursued in the future.
Source: Seoul Economic Daily
