Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Holdings has said it is “working with Singaporean regulators” to alleviate concerns about its merger with DSME.
“We believe Singaporean authorities are taking a cautious approach to making a decision about the deal between two of the biggest market players,” an HHI spokesman told Reuters.
“We will do our best to complete this well,” he said, referring to Singapore’s review. He did not give details on how the firm is addressing the Lion Republic’s concerns.
Last week, Singapore’s Competition and Consumer Commission (CCC) raised competition concerns about the merger.
“Third-party feedback suggests that the Parties are currently two of the largest suppliers for the global supply of LNG carriers, and possibly large containerships and large oil tankers,” the CCC said.
“There are concerns that the proposed transaction will remove competition between two main suppliers of these commercial vessels, to the detriment of customers in Singapore.
“Feedback also revealed concerns on whether alternative suppliers will be sufficiently strong competitors to the merged entity.”
The CCC said there were also concerns that the “barriers to entry and expansion, particularly in relation to more sophisticated vessels such as LNG carriers, may be high”.
Plans announced in January to combine two of the world’s biggest shipbuilders require regulatory approval in South Korea, Singapore, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and the European Union. So far, only Kazakhstan has approved the deal.
