[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 21st, Samsung Securities, the main secretary of the sale, completed a preliminary bid to sell HMM management rights later in the day.

As a result of the bidding deadline, LX International, Dongwon Industrial and Harim-JK Partners Consortium participated in Korea, while Germany's Hapak Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest shipping company, reportedly participated overseas.

Subject to the acquisition are a total of 398.79 million shares, including 200 million shares that converted 1 trillion won out of 2.68 trillion won in perpetual bonds, including convertible bonds (CB) and bonds with warrant (BW), along with 198.79 million shares held by KDB Development Bank and the Korea Maritime Promotion Agency. The industry expects the actual sale price to be at least 6.5 trillion won.

According to the preliminary bidding deadline, the short list (final candidate group) will be selected soon, and due diligence will continue to examine the corporate value of HMM.

SM Group and Global Seah, which had expressed their willingness to acquire HMM, did not participate in the preliminary bidding. Woo Oh-hyun, chairman of SM Group, said in a media interview last month that he is considering acquiring HMM after offering a bid of 4.5 trillion won.

The industry is currently predicting that LX International, which has the most financial power, will take over if it goes to the four-way race. In terms of financial power, Hapakroid, the world's fifth-largest shipping company, is expected to be more competitive, but it is unlikely that it will acquire overseas shipping companies, considering that HMM is the nation's largest container shipper with government funds.

LX International is known to have about 1.3 trillion won in cashable assets as of the end of June this year.

On the other hand, HMM shares were strong amid expectations of a preliminary bid for the sale. On the KOSPI market, HMM closed at 17,990 won, up 2.45% from the previous trading day.

 

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