Creditors of STX Group tentatively reached a consensus that they will give their “qualified” consent to bailing out ailing units of the shipbuilding giant, the state-run Korea Development Bank said Monday.
The main creditor KDB and others held a meeting to discuss whether to accept the proposal from the business group over joint management of several units by creditor banks.
Their qualified consent means that the creditors are seeking to inject emergency relief funds into the debt-saddled STX Group subsidiaries under the assumption that further serious factors will not be revealed during the coming “due diligence” on them.
KDB officials said they expect each creditor will agree on the rescue package by May 12.
A KDB executive, however, commented on the key proviso, which specifies that “the co-management could be suspended should creditors bet on the low possibility that the STX units will attain management normalization, based on their scheduled due diligence.”
While it will likely take about one or two months for the creditors to finish due diligence on the financial troubled units STX Corp., STX Heavy Industries, STX Engine and ForceTec, policymakers including financial authorities are striving to revive the nation’s 13th-largest business group.
“If STX Group falls into insolvency, it may create a chain of bankruptcies of subcontractors,” said a Financial Supervisory Service official.
Though the view of creditors is significant, it is necessary to normalize the group by pushing for restructuring through a sale of assets, he said.
Creditors of STX Corp., STX Heavy Industries and STX Engine tentatively decided to pour bailout funds, including 200 billion won ($181.8 million) for maturing bonds issued by STX Corp., into the three units.
ForceTec’s creditors, including Woori Bank, also plan to hold a meeting to map out rescue project.
Though STX Corp. is the nominal holding company of the conglomerate, it has been regarded as a subsidiary of the group, controlled by STX Group chairman Kang Duck-soo.
Chairman Kang holds a 9.9 percent in STX Corp. and 69.4 percent in ForceTec, which de facto owns STX Corp.
According to KDB, Kang is considering selling two units of STX Europe ― STX France and STX Finland ― as part of efforts to improve the group’s overall financial soundness.
By Kim Yon-se (
kys@heraldcorp.com)
