Financially faltering STX Group, the nation’s fourth largest shipbuilder, said Friday it completed the sale of STX Energy to Orix, a Japanese financial service company.
“The group’s board approved the sale of its remaining 43.15 percent stake to Orix for 270 billion won ($240 million) in its latest meeting,” the group said in a press release.
With the deal, Orix’s stake in STX Energy, whose core businesses are power generation and solar power manufacturing, soared to 93.2 percent. Orix secured a 50.05 percent stake in STX Energy in the previous deal with STX Group.
STX Group allegedly was hesitant to sell additional stakes to Orix, but Korea Development Bank, its main creditor, pushed for the sale.
“The sale of STX Energy is meaningful in that it provided liquidity to the group and so the group will be able to step up its restructuring plan,’’ Kim Mi-young from the STX said.
The debt-laden group has sought to transform itself into a shipbuilding and offshore plant construction-driven company by shedding non-core businesses, including shipping, construction and energy arms.
Creditors have been leading the restructuring of STX Group since the group asked creditors for an injection of liquidity, proposing the restructuring plan in January. The state-run Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of the group, agreed to inject liquidity into the ailing group, considering the impact on the economy.
The group’s creditors pumped an additional 250 billion won ($216 million) in liquidity into the shipbuilder in a bid to tide it over during its cash crunch following the 600 billion won investment made in late April.
The creditors said they would finalize comprehensive measures to normalize the company’s operations by end-July.
If the group is normalized, the group is expected to be downsized with four units under its roof: SK Corp., the group’s holding company, and three shipbuilding-related units ― STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, STX Heavy Industries and STX Engine.
By Seo Jee-yeon (
jyseo@heraldcorp.com)
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