Largest Sale in Market
Korea Development Bank (KDB) is set to start the process of selling its controlling stake in HMM, a deal that is anticipated to be one of the largest M&A transactions in the market, possibly worth up to 5 trillion won.
KDB Bank announced on July 20 that they have issued a public competitive bid for the joint sale of HMM’s management rights along with the Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC).
The total number of HMM shares to be sold combines approximately 199 million shares currently held by KDB and KOBC, plus an additional 200 million shares that can be converted from perpetual bonds (CBs) in the future, totaling 399 million shares altogether. As per the conversion of the perpetual bonds, the stake for sale constitutes approximately 38.9% of HMM.
The largest shareholder of HMM is KDB (20.69%), followed by KOBC (19.96%). Currently, SM Group has officially expressed its intention to acquire HMM, and potential acquisition candidates include Hyundai Motors, CJ, LX, and POSCO.