Daewoo Shipbuilding employees to team up with potential buyer

SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- An association of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. employees plans to team up with a potential buyer of their company, industry sources said Friday.

The group of employees, which owns a 0.46-percent stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding,
is expected to have a say in selecting a preferred bidder for the shipyard, as
the bidder which teams up with the association wins support from employees.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) and a state-run asset management company are
seeking to sell a combined 50.4-percent interest in the world's third-largest
shipyard, which they bailed out in 2000 after its parent Daewoo Group collapsed
under a mountain of debt.

On Tuesday, POSCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Hanhwa Group and GS Group
submitted their detailed bids for Daewoo Shipbuilding.

KDB said it will pick a preferred bidder in October after allowing the four
bidders to conduct a due diligence on Daewoo Shipbuilding for three weeks
starting next week.

The deal, estimated to be worth as much as 7 trillion won (US$6.36 billion), has
drawn much attention from bidders as the winner will likely gain a new growth
engine from the shipyard's lucrative energy-related business and strong cash
flows.

Meanwhile, the shipbuilder's labor union threatened to prevent the bidders from
conducting a due diligence unless Hyundai Heavy drops its bid.

So far this year, Daewoo Shipbuilding has won $10.9 billion worth of orders to
build ships and offshore facilities, about 62 percent of this year's target of
$17.5 billion. Its backlog has reached about $42 billion.