Korea Express Company, Korea's biggest logistics company, plans to sell 24 million new shares, representing a controlling stake in the company, as part of its exit from six years of court receivership.
The new stock, to be sold in one block, will equal 60 percent of the company's expanded share capital, according to Oh Min-seok, a judge at Seoul Central District Court.
Korea Express may become the focus of a bidding war as Korea's Doosan Group, Kumho-Asiana Group and STX Group have all said they would like to buy the company. Leaving court receivership will also allow existing shareholders, including Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated, to regain their voting rights. The company will receive letters of intent by December 11 and will get main bids by January.
Korea Express currently has 15.99 million outstanding shares, with a market value of US$1.75 billion.
The company in October hired Merrill Lynch & Company, law firm Bae, Kim & Lee LLC and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers to arrange the planned stake sale.
Triumph II Investments (Ireland) Limited, majority owned by Goldman Sachs' GS Financial Services LP unit, is Korea Express's largest shareholder, with a 26 percent stake. STX Pan Ocean Company holds 15 percent and Kumho Industrial Company owns 14 percent of the logistics firm. The state-run Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company and Korea Asset Management Corporation have a combined 17 percent.
The existing shareholders can also bid for the new shares, the judge said. Korea Express has been in court receivership since 2001 after it failed to pay debt inherited from its former parent Dong Ah Construction Industrial Company.
|
|
|
Source: americanshipper
|
|
