Sale of PanOcean
The disposal of PanOcean, a former subsidiary of the STX Group that is in court receivership now, is gaining speed. According to industry sources, creditors are going to make a public notice of sale in early August.
“Court receivership was filed for in June last year, and the process started in November so the charterage pre-paid by the ship owners has been left as liabilities,” a PanOcean representative explained, adding, “We are currently discussing how to deal with the debts from multiple ship owners such as Conti Holdings, and the remnant will be handled through litigation for finalization.” The rep. continued, “The debt amount is likely to be lowered due to the debt-for-equity swap in the second quarter.”
At present, the company is estimated to be sold at 700 billion won (US$679 million). The specific amount has not been confirmed by the company yet.
Hyundai Glovis is one of the most likely candidates for the acquisition of PanOcean. In this case, Hyundai Glovis can get some of the export amount of Hyundai Motor Company as well as that of Hyundai Steel. Other candidates include POSCO and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), both of which do not have any logistics business base.