The deadline for the completion of the $1.8bn mega-merger of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group shipyards with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has been moved back to the summer.
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), the Hyundai group's shipbuilding holding company, said in a stock-exchange filing that the contract for the acquisition of DSME has been revised with seller Korea Development Bank (KDB).
The deadline has been extended to 30 June this year from 30 September 2020 — a deadline long gone due to delays in gaining antitrust approval.
The companies have won the green light from a number of jurisdictions, but the European Union's competition investigation has been delayed three times by the Covid-19 pandemic. Japan also has yet to clear the transaction.
The merger was agreed in March 2019.
Chinese approval
China gave its blessing to the tie-up earlier in January.
The country's antitrust watchdog, the State Administration for Market Regulation, said the deal involving Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries did not violate any antitrust rules or hurt fair competition.
A key sticking point for the EU is a concern over the effect of the merger on the LNG carrier market.
The European Commission has warned that the transaction could push up prices due to the companies having a combined market share of more than 50% of this newbuilding sector.
The commission is also worried the deal would stifle innovation in the LNG carrier market.
Previous concerns it raised over the impact of the deal on the markets for large containerships, tankers and LPG carriers have been dropped.
Kazakhstan and Singapore have also given the go-ahead for the takeover.
The process has been fraught with tension as only one country would need to block it for the deal to be off.
