Court mulls selling STX units together

The South Korean court is considering putting troubled STX Offshore and Shipbuilding on sale with the company’s two affiliates as a package, sources said Tuesday.

STX, the nation’s fourth-largest shipbuilder, has been under court receivership since June, upon its request, due to massive debt caused from mismanagement and an industrywide slump. 

Sources said that the Seoul Central District Court is reviewing a plan to simultaneously sell off near-bankrupt STX along with two affiliates Goseong Offshore and Shipbuilding and STX France, upon a show of interest from a potential buyer.

A foreign company, known to be running a hotel chain, reportedly made an offer to buy the three firms together. Further details of the foreign company have remained undisclosed.

Goseong Offshore and Shipbuilding, owned by STX, has specialized in building large container tankers. It has been under a separate court receivership.

STX France, a cruise ship-building subsidiary, is owned by STX’s second-tier subsidiary STX Europe with 66 percent of the shares. The rest of the shares are reverted to the French government. STX took over STX France in 2009, and has been seeking to sell it off since last year.

The court will finalize the sale plan after STX’s revival plan is approved by stakeholders, the sources said. The revival plan, which was initially slated for last month, has been delayed over disagreement with labor unions.

According to a report released last month by accounting firm EY Han Young, the going concern value of STX was estimated at 1.26 trillion won ($1.13 billion), while the liquidation value was about 920 billion won.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)