Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries — one of the three shipyards under Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) — is set to go public later this year.
The initial public offering (IPO) plan was a condition put forward by IMM Private Equity five years ago when it injected KRW 400bn ($334m) into the Mokpo-based shipyard.
KSOE vice chairman and chief executive Ka Sam-Hyun said his company is fulfilling the promise it made to IMM Private Equity for the financial assistance it rendered during the shipbuilding slump, according to local media.
KSOE is a unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings. It controls Hyundai Heavy Industries , Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.
One manager at HHI confirmed the IPO of Hyundai Samho, adding that the shares would be listed on the South Korean stock exchange.
Hyundai Samho is the last shipyard under the control of KSOE to go public. Hyundai Mipo has been listed since 1983 while HHI went public last year.
The Korea Times reported that news of Hyundai Samho's listing was not welcomed by some KSOE shareholders as they fear the subsidary's IPO could cause a discount on its parent firm's stock price. This happened when HHI went public in September.
Hyundai Samho has set an order target of $4.6bn for this year but has already achieved 30% of its goal.
The shipyard had secured $1.3bn worth of newbuildings orders in early January. The orders involved one LNG carrier and six dual-fuelled 15,000-teu container ship newbuildings.
Domestic owner SK Shipping was reported to have ordered the 174,000-cbm LNG carrier newbuilding for delivery in the second half of 2024.
Mediterranean Shipping Co was linked to the containership order and was reported to have paid close to $185m each for the LNG dual-fuelled vessels. Hyundai Samho is slated to deliver them from the first half of 2024.
