Korea's pension fund scraps plan to bid for Daewoo Shipbuilding

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's pension fund has decided to scrap its plan to bid for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. amid the global financial turmoil, officials said Thursday.

The National Pension Service, the country's largest investor, said in August that
it may spend up to 1.5 trillion won to make a joint bid.
The pension fund has been in talks with POSCO, GS Group and Hanwha Group to
choose a partner for the acquisition of the world's third-largest shipyard.
Shares of Daewoo Shipbuilding were trading at 27,900 won (US$23.3) on the Seoul
bourse as of 9:50 a.m., down 0.89 percent.
State-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) and a government asset management agency
are seeking to sell a combined 50.4 percent stake in the shipyard, which may
fetch up to 7 trillion won.
Daewoo Shipbuilding was bailed out in 2000 after its parent Daewoo Group
collapsed under a mountain of debt. KDB plans to pick a preferred bidder this
month.
The deal 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.
So far this year, Daewoo Shipbuilding has won around $11 billion worth of orders
to build ships and offshore facilities, about 62 percent of this year's target of
$17.5 billion. Its order backlog has reached about $42 billion.