South Korean shipping company HMM has won a bid to acquire a controlling stake in tanker operator SK Shipping, owned by investment company Hahn & Co. HMM is currently conducting due diligence on the deal, which it plans to complete in March and submit to the board of directors by April.
SK Shipping has a fleet of 62 vessels, including 14 LNG carriers, 14 LNG carriers, 20 oil tankers, 6 product tankers and 7 bulk carriers. Hahn & Co acquired 80% of the company in 2018 for $1 billion and now plans to sell its stake for $2.8 billion. However, HMM is considering buying only part of the business, excluding LNG operations, as it was previously forced to sell its own LNG unit and could not return to this segment until 2019.
In 2023, HMM announced an ambitious $17.5 billion fleet expansion program, including increasing its container fleet to 1.5 million TEU and doubling its bulk carrier fleet to 12.28 million dwt. The deal with SK Shipping, excluding the LNG business, could be worth about $1.4 billion, according to the Korea Economic Daily.