[Yonhap News Photo]
A minor South Korean shipping line has been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire Hanjin Shipping's US-Asia route, beating Hyundai Merchant Marine, the country's second-largest shipper controlled by creditors, industry sources said Monday.
A Seoul court plans to sign a contract with SM Group's affiliate, Korea Line Corp., on November 21, on the sale of Hanjin's lucrative US-Asia route, its workforce, and overseas operations, according to shipping industry sources.
Hyundai Merchant had been favored by financial officials seeking to realign South Korea's shipping industry, but it's not known immediately why Korea Line was selected as the preferred bidder.
Initially, five contenders had jumped into the race to acquire Hanjin's assets, but only Hyundai Merchant and SM (Samla Midas) submitted final bids.
SM acquired Korea Line Corp., the country's fourth-largest shipper, in November 2013.
Hanjin, which filed for court receivership on August 31, has been under pressure to speed up the sale of assets and a cut in its manpower. Its debt was estimated at six trillion (5.18 billion US dollars) at the end of June.
Hanjin has been allowed to sell its 54-percent stake in Total Terminals International (TTI), which operates two US facilities in Long Beach and Seattle, and to close European operations.
Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A, the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, is the second largest shareholder of TTI, and its preemption could be a legal hurdle.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
