Reports from South Korea are casting doubt on whether German container ship owner Hapag-Lloyd will be able to buy rival HMM.
The Hamburg group was said last week to have been on a shortlist of four in the privatisation of the boxship, VLCC and bulker company.
Now domestic media reports claim Hapag-Lloyd has not been included on the list.
This reflects concerns over the sale of the flagship South Korean company to a foreign operation, according to the JoongAng daily.
HMM’s main creditor, state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), has declined to confirm the reports, however, saying that no final decision has been reached yet.
The three other groups in the running are domestic: a Harim-JKL Partners consortium, Dongwon Group and LX Holdings.
An announcement about preferred bidders could come on Thursday.
Hapag-Lloyd told TradeWinds it is not commenting on the matter.
News of a potential deal with the German company caused a debate in the country about a potential outflow of capital.
The expected selling price for HMM is around KRW 5trn ($3.9bn). Hapag-Lloyd boasted liquidity of $10bn as of the end of June.
Minority HMM shareholders who were believed to be supportive of a Hapag-Lloyd bid have reportedly expressed disappointment at the latest news, if confirmed.
Two months of due diligence
KDB and Korea Ocean Business Corp are looking to sell out.
SM Group, the parent company of SM Line, Korea Shipping Corp, Korea Line Corp and TK Chemical Corp, had also been expected to bid.
In the preliminary round, KDB will assess the eligibility of the bidders by evaluating their ability to operate a national shipping line and to mobilise funds.
KDB will then conduct due diligence for about two months before selecting the preferred bidder and closing the sale by the end of this year.
