Seoul Court News

South Korean state banks are preparing a fresh $2.6 billion bailout for floundering Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd, which has built up huge losses from offshore projects and risks missing debt repayments. Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries are South Korea's top shipbuilders - a massive economic force and a source of national pride. But they slipped into the red in 2015 amid a commodities downturn and bleak trade volumes, prompting cost cuts and asset sales. Of the three, Daewoo's situation is the most difficult.

South Korea's largest deep sea carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine expects to post losses through the first half of next year due to poor market conditions, reports Bloomberg quoting its CEO Yoo Chang-keun. “This year will be the year to strengthen our financials,” Yoo told Bloomberg. “We are targeting to make an operating profit in the third quarter of next year. By early next year, we expect much of the overcapacity in the market will be resolved. Yoo says that HMM is also making investments in overseas port operations, like TTI / MSC's facilities in Long Beach and a container terminal in Algeciras, Spain (Both terminals are former Hanjin assets), so as to offset the underperformance of its core shipping business.

The Seoul Central District Court Thursday decided to end the bankruptcy protection of Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd (Hanjin Shipping), leaving the company to succumb to a declaration of bankruptcy later this month, Yonhap reported. Hanjin, once the world's seventh- or eighth-largest container shipper, filed for court receivership in late August 2016 as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), said they would not provide additional financial support to Hanjin starting from September 4. “Now that the sale of Hanjin’s major assets is almost over, the time has come to declare its final fate,” WSJ quoted Choi Ung-young, a judge on the Seoul court as saying. Choi said the shipping line has hardly any value as a going concern and that the court will likely rule on Feb.

French state holds 33 pct of STX France; acquisition could boost Fincantieri's position in cruise shipbuilding. A South Korean court approved on Tuesday Italy's Fincantieri as the preferred bidder to buy shipbuilder STX France, helping Fincantieri move closer to a deal that could boost its position in the cruise shipbuilding market. The Seoul court spokesman, who announced the decision on Tuesday, declined to give further details on the situation, while a Fincantieri spokesman also declined to comment. The sale of STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships and is profitable, forms part of the broader sale of businesses from the demise of the South Korean STX shipbuilding group.

Italian shipbuilding and construction group Fincantieri SpA is the only bidder for shipping group STX France, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. The sale of STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships in the western France city of Saint-Nazaire and is profitable, forms part of the broader sale of businesses from the collapsed STX shipbuilding group. A spokesman for a Korean court overseeing the process had said earlier on Tuesday that one bid had been received for the STX France business, without giving a name. A spokesman for the Seoul court overseeing STX Offshore's receivership had said in November that four parties had expressed interest in buying one or both of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a controlling stake in STX France.

Only one bid has been received so far for shipping group STX France, said a Korean court on Tuesday.   A spokesman for the Seoul court overseeing STX Offshore's receivership had said earlier in November that four parties had expressed interest in buying one or both of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a controlling stake in STX France SA. Reporting by Joyce Lee

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding has got the green light to carry on operations. A Seoul court today approved its rehabilitation plan, saving the yard, once the world’s fourth largest, from liquidation, reports Yonhap. STX Shipbuilding, once South Korea's No. 4 shipbuilder, has been placed under court receivership since June, amid a protracted slump in the shipbuilding industry. The Seoul Central District Court approved its revival plan, ending the financially shaky shipyard’s five-month long court receivership. The court said it is currently carrying out mergers and acquisitions (M&A) procedures for a smooth restructuring of the shipyard and is reviewing proposals from four enterprises that have been submitted as of last week. It is planning to receive acquisition proposals until Dec. 27.

Four parties have expressed interest in buying one or both of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a controlling stake in STX France SA, a spokesman for the Seoul court overseeing STX Offshore's receivership said on Friday. The Seoul Central District Court spokesman declined to comment on the names of the parties. The South Korean court in October decided to allow the two units of the collapsed STX shipbuilding group to be sold either separately or together. Initial bids were due on Friday for all of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a 66.7 percent stake in STX France SA that is held by STX Europe AS. The four parties that entered non-binding bids in the sale were France's DCNS Group…

Germany's HSH Nordbank has arranged a deal which will see six container ships from collapsed South Korean line Hanjin chartered out to Denmark's AP Moller Maersk, the state-backed lender said on Thursday. This is one of the first examples of Hanjin's lenders looking to resolve the fallout from the shipping firm's collapse in August, which has left an estimated $14 billion in cargo stranded on its ships. HSH, which was among a consortium of banks that had financed Hanjin ships, said in a statement that Maersk's container unit, the world's No. 1 line, would operate the six vessels.

South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd is selling major businesses, including its Asia-U.S. route network, and will receive letters of intent by October 28, the company said on Thursday. In a regulatory filing the company said a Seoul court overseeing its receivership process approved a public auction of the major businesses, and it is to get binding bids from interested parties by November 7, after a due diligence process. Reporting by Joyce Lee

The South Korean court overseeing Hanjin Shipping’s receivership process plans to put the collapsed shipper’s Asia-U.S. operations up for sale as early as Friday, says a report in Fortune. The company said that it is selling major businesses, including its Asia-U.S. route network, and will receive letters of intent by October 28. In a regulatory filing the company said a Seoul court overseeing its receivership process approved a public auction of the major businesses, and it is to get binding bids from interested parties by November 7, after a due diligence process. The spokesman for the Seoul Central District Court said the deadline for binding bids is expected to be Nov. 7. He declined to comment on potential price or interested parties for the assets.

Hanjin's failure largest ever among container shippers; collapse has disrupted global trade networks. The collapsed Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd could not compete against global rivals that were supported by their governments, the chairman of its parent firm told a South Korean parliamentary hearing on Tuesday. The world's seventh-largest container shipper sought court receivership in late August after its creditors led by a state bank halted further support, stranding $14 billion in cargo and sending waves through global trade networks. "Hanjin Shipping lost the game of chicken played among large shippers," Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho told the hearing.

Three bulk carriers sold charter-free at about market rates. Two Hanjin container ships also up for sale. Three ships chartered to Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd have been sold and two more vessels are up for sale, ship brokers said on Wednesday, kicking off an asset sale sparked by the failure of the world's seventh largest container shipper. Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied up globally as ports, tugboat operators and cargo handling firms worried about not being paid refuse to work for Hanjin, which filed for receivership in a Seoul court on Aug 31. While some ships have been offloaded since then, bottlenecks are forming at some ports and truck yards as containers pile up.

Parent group transfers $36 mln to troubled shipper. It may cost over $150 mln to unload stranded cargo. The chairman of Hanjin Group transferred 40 billion won ($36 million) to Hanjin Shipping on Tuesday to help unload cargo stranded on the troubled shipper's vessels, a spokesman said, but regulators warned securing further funds could take "considerable time". The parent of Hanjin Shipping pledged last week to raise 100 billion won to help rescue cargo in the wake of the collapse of the world's seventh-biggest container shipper, including the 40 billion won from Chairman Cho Yang-ho. About $9 million pledged by Choi Eun-young, a former chairwoman of Hanjin Shipping, has also come in, the shipper said.

A U.S. judge said on Friday he will grant Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd provisional protection from creditors in the United States, enabling some vessels to dock and unload at U.S. ports. South Korea's Hanjin asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood to issue an order that would prevent creditors from seizing Hanjin ships or property, and allow cargo owners to make arrangements to retrieve goods stranded in warehouses. Sherwood said he would sign the order later on Friday. Earlier, the company received authority to spend the money needed to dock at U.S.

Chung Ju-yung, the rags-to-riches founder of South Korea's mighty Hyundai industrial empire, died on Wednesday aged 85. Born into a poverty-stricken farming family in 1915 in what is now North Korea, Chung helped propel South Korea from the ashes of civil war into an industrial powerhouse. Chung died in hospital from complications from pneumonia, hospital officials said. Chung left home at 18 to seek his fortune against the will of his father who wanted his first son to feed his family. He earned his first wage as a rice delivery boy. His first step on the road to riches came with his first ventures, a lorry firm and car repair company in the waning days of Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.