[Courtesy of Hyundai Merchant]
The second round of bidding for Hanjin Shipping's viable assets became a two-way race Thursday between Hyundai Merchant Marine, the country's second-largest shipper controlled by creditors, and SM Group, a minor local shipping line.
Initially, five contenders had jumped into the race to acquire Hanjin's assets, but only Hyundai Merchant and SM (Samla Midas) submitted final bids. A Seoul court plans to select the preferred bidder on Monday.
Hyundai Merchant hopes to buy Hanjin's lucrative Asia-US route and other assets to bolster its global competitiveness. The shipper has been favored by financial officials seeking to realign South Korea's shipping industry.
SM acquired Korea Line Corp., the country's fourth-largest shipper, in November 2013 and a controlling stake in Samsun Logix in September this year.
Hanjin, which filed for court receivership on August 31, has been under pressure to speed up the sale of assets and a cut in its manpower. Its debt was estimated at six trillion (5.18 billion US dollars) at the end of June.
Hanjin has been allowed to sell its 54-percent stake in Total Terminals International (TTI), which operates two US facilities in Long Beach and Seattle, and to close European operations.
Hanjin's route, seven overseas operations, and five container ships were put on the auction block. It's not clear whether Hyundai Merchant applied to buy the stake in TTI.
Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A (MSC), the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, is the second largest shareholder of TTI, and its preemption could be a legal hurdle.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
