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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Harim Group, which entered the HMM acquisition race, has started selling its stake in Hanjin Kal, which is owned by its affiliate Pan Ocean.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 18th, Pan Ocean held a board meeting on the 16th and decided to dispose of all 3,903,973 shares of Hanjin Kal for 162.8 billion won.
Pan Ocean invested KRW 111 million in May last year to buy a stake in Hanjin Kal and acquired 3,338,090 shares held by Hoban Construction for KRW 125.9 billion in December of the same year, increasing its stake to 5.8%.
The market believes that Pan Ocean has started to liquidate its stake in order for Harim Group to raise funds to acquire HMM. Dongwon, Harim and LX Group, which were selected as candidates for the HMM qualification (shortlist), are expected to bid in early November after two months of due diligence.
With the sale price of the HMM expected to reach at least 5 trillion won to 7 trillion won, Harim Group is expected to raise at least 2.5 trillion won in funds on its own. Harim Holdings (003380) has 1.47 trillion won in cash assets as of the first half of the year. In addition, Pan Ocean is expected to raise 1 trillion won in operating cash flows to be earned by the end of the year and secure about 1 trillion won more in cash through asset securitization such as ship sales.
However, many additional funds are required at the group level, such as large-scale facility investment in Pan Ocean (028670), support for the expansion of the food business of Harim Industry, and the development project of Yangjae Urban High-tech Logistics Complex.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
