The European Union has resumed its investigation into Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings' (HHIH) bid for rival Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).
The move by the antitrust regulator, which was announced on Tuesday, comes after a halt of more than a year.
The European Commission plans to finalise the probe by 20 January 2022.
"The probe was able to be resumed as we fully answered questions by the EU antitrust regulator," an official at Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co (KSOE) told news agency Yonhap.
KSOE is the subholding company of the world's largest shipbuilding conglomerate, HHIH, which operates three shipbuilders, including Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The resumption of the investigation is the third of its kind since December 2019, when the bloc's antitrust regulator opened a probe into the $1.8bn acquisition of DSME.
The antitrust regulator last stopped the investigation into the deal on 13 July 2020, Yonhap reported.
Prior to that, the regulator had stopped and resumed its investigation twice in 2020, citing a lack of data related to the combination.
A combined Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and DSME would currently have 53% of the LNG carrier newbuilding orderbook, or 78 of the 157 gas carriers on order as of the end of October, according to figures from Affinity (Shipping).
It would also have 29% of the current tanker newbuilding orderbook in deadweight terms, with Samsung Heavy Industries the next largest with 10%, followed by China's New Times and Dalian Shipbuilding industries with 7% and 6% respectively.
It would control 46% of the LPG carrier newbuilding orderbook in cbm capacity terms with 48 of the 80 ships on order, according to Affinity (Shipping).
The concentration of influence is even higher if fellow group company Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) is included. The yard is building 32 LPG carriers, or 13% of the orderbook by cbm capacity.
In the containership space Samsung, HHI and China's Yangzijiang Shipbuilding each control 12% of the newbuilding market. However, DSME controls a 10% stake.
The planned takeover has already received approval from China, Singapore and Kazakhstan, but has yet to receive the green light from South Korean authorities as well as shipbuilding rival Japan.
TradeWinds previously reported that KSOE was likely to abort the merger plan if the EU rejects the proposal, according to one industry source.
