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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Industrials

HMM aims to buy back Busan port

  • PUBLISHED :November 06, 2017 - 15:26
  • UPDATED :November 07, 2017 - 11:36
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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Merchant Marine, Korea’s biggest shipping line which recently underwent restructuring, plans to buy back its stake in Busan New Port that it sold to private equity firm IMM Investment and PSA Singapore, industry sources said on Nov. 6.

The firm, which currently owns a 10 percent stake, aims to raise it to 40 percent by investing around 200 billion won (US$179 million) and 300 billion won in an effort to regain control of the port.

HMM sold 90 percent of its stake in March 2016 as part of its restructuring to tide over financial woes.



The largest shareholder IMM and PSA hold 50 percent minus one share and 40 percent plus one share, respectively.

Industry sources also said that HMM plans to acquire a few more global terminals to regain its competitiveness after the restructuring. 

Following the news, HMM said in a regulatory filing that it is considering investing in domestic and overseas ports but nothing has been determined yet about Busan New Port.

HMM became Korea’s largest shipping company and the only one with long-distance shipping operations after Hanjin Shipping, once the world’s seventh-largest line, was declared bankrupt in February this year. HMM, which also faced fierce global competition and historically low freight rates, avoided bankruptcy in June 2016 after its creditors agreed on a debt-for-equity swap deal.


By Park Ga-young (
gypark@heraldcorp.com)

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