SEOUL– Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday that it has agreed with the state-run lender Korea Development Bank (KDB) to push back the deadline for finalizing a deal to buy Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) by three months to the end of the year.
KSOE and KDB, the main creditor of DSME, delayed the deal for the fifth time since March 2019, when the two companies signed a deal for KSOE’s acquisition of a 55.72 percent stake in DSME, which had been stuck in a severe cash shortage since 1999, KSOE said in a regulatory filing.
In a bid to finalize the deal, KSOE has to get approval from South Korea, China, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Japan and the European Union, but only three countries — China, Kazakhstan and Singapore — have given the green light.
The approval by the EU has been considered crucial for the combination of KSOE and DSME.
The deal could create the world’s biggest shipbuilder with a 21 percent market share.
Source: Yonhap News Agency