Hyundai Development head office in Seoul/Courtesy of Hyundai Development

HDC consortium named preferred bidder for Asiana

Kumho Asiana Group named the consortium of Hyundai Development (HDC) and Mirae Asset Daewoo as the preferred bidder for Asiana Airlines, the country's No. 2 flag carrier.

Kumho, which tries to sell its 31.05 percent stake in Asiana, said that HDC-Mirae Asset consortium is the best qualified bidder.

Last week, the consortium submitted the highest bid of 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion). Its two rivals led by Aekyung Group and the Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund (KCGI) handed in some 1.5 trillion won, apiece.

Aekyung is a cosmetics giantan while KCGI is a private equity fund.

Cash-strapped Kumho were forced to sell Asiana e of creditors including the Korea Development Bank.

Asiana netted a loss of $94.4 million last year, which worsened its already-bad financial status. The Seoul-based outfit owes some $2.8 billion to banks and other financial firms.

Asiana’s auditor of Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers declined to sign off its 2018 financial statements of the carrier, citing a lack of information.

This prompted the Seoul bourse operator to suspend trading of Asiana shares earlier this year.

At this cliamte, Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo resigned, and its creditors urged the group to dispose of Asiana. Kumho accepted the demand.

 

Related stories

Will HDC acquire Asiana?

Four players compete to acquire Asiana

 
이 기사를 공유합니다
Copyright © The Korea News Plus