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South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping, long struggling with operating losses, said on Monday that it has presented an application to its creditor banks to restructure its debt in an effort to get back on its feet.
The self-rescue measures submitted to its creditors led by the state-run Korea Development Bank included a promise by Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho that he will give up managerial control over the shipping unit, along with sale of assets, according to sources at the creditors.
Hanjin Shipping is planning to sell off assets, which may include its office building in London, which is worth around $58.1 million, the sources said.
But it has yet to be confirmed whether creditors and Hanjin Shipping discussed any contribution of the private properties of Chairman Cho and other family members with stakes in the shipping company as part of its self-rescue measures.
The sources said the creditor banks plan to ask Hanjin Shipping to supplement its self-rescue measures by the end of this week before determining whether to approve them.
Hanjin Shipping and other local shippers have
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been struggling with falling freight rates amid a protracted slump in the world’s economy. Hanjin Shipping has to pay off or refinance $435 million worth of debt that matures in the first half of the year.
Earlier on Monday, South Korea’s financial regulator said it will open an investigation into the controversial sale of Hanjin Shipping stocks by the family of its former chairwoman.
The Financial Supervisory Service said it will look to see if Eusu Holdings Co. Chairwoman Choi Eun-yeong, former chairwoman of Hanjin Shipping, sold the financially troubled shipping company’s stocks using undisclosed information to avoid big losses.
For more of the Korea Times story: www.koreatimesus.com
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