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A plan to sell South Korea's mid-sized shipyard K Shipbuilding has fallen through, with the potential buyer reporting it had been unable to reach terms with the debt investor and private equity firm that had rescued the yard four years ago. K Shipbuilding is the surviving South Korea operations of the former STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, which had been one of Korea's largest shipbuilders with a growing international portfolio.
The collapse of the proposed sale is the latest twist in the long-running effort to rescue the former STX. Once ranked among the top four in South Korea, STX traced its origins to 1967 and the Dongyang Shipbuilding Industry Co. Becoming STX in 2002, it had acquired yards in France and Finland before running into financial troubles during the financial crisis of 2008 and the collapse in shipbuilding orders. In 2013, the company reported it was in a debt workout but three years later was placed under a court-managed receivership.
A South Korean private equity firm, KHI, and a distressed debt investor, United Asset Management (UAMCO), stepped in and acquired the company in 2021. They were able to work out the debt and resolve low-price orders the yard had taken on during that period. In 2025, the company reported its first profit in 14 years.
The yard has continued to grow its orderbook. Last year, it said it had more than two years of work, and the yard was running at a utilization rate of 110 percent. It recently announced it had become the first medium-sized South Korean shipyard to receive U.S. CMMC Certification to participate in the U.S. defense procurement market and U.S. Navy ship maintenance projects.
Taking advantage of the turnaround and renewed opportunities in shipbuilding, the investors announced they would be running a competition in the fall of 2025 to sell their combined 99 percent ownership stake. Limited to Korean companies, only one bidder emerged, Taekwang Industrial. The company is primarily a petrochemical and textile manufacturer.
In a regulatory filing on June 22, Taekwang reports it was unable to progress the negotiations as there remained differences in its offer and the seller's requests. It had failed to become the preferred bidder.
The current investors report they will review the process and determine if they will restart the bidding based on market conditions. KHI had also purchased another mid-sized shipyard, Dahan Shipbuilding, and last year reported it planned to conduct a public offering for that shipyard. Both yards were part of the revival of South Korea's mid-sized yards and benefited when the three majors became heavily booked in recent years.
Fuente: The Maritime Executive
