[Yonhap News Photo]
Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., a South Korean shipping line, and Swiss-based MSC, the world's No. 2 shipper, have teamed up to buy a stake in Hanjin Shipping Co.'s US port terminal, industry sources said Thursday.
According to the sources, Hyundai Merchant and MSC submitted their bid for a 54-percent stake in the port terminal in Long Beach, California, an acquisition estimated at some 400 billion won (US$342 million). MSC is the second-largest shareholder in the terminal operation with a 46-percent stake.
SM Group, a mid-sized local group which owns South Korea's No. 2 bulk carrier Korea Line Corp., has been seeking to buy the stake after acquiring the troubled shipper's US-Asia route and other assets for 37 billion won last week.
Also, a local private equity fund is also bidding for the terminal operation. If SM Group abandons its status as preferred bidder for the U.S. port terminal, the Hyundai Merchant-MSC consortium and the local PEF will vie for it, the sources said.
(Yonhap)
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