POSCO-GS, Hanwha, Hyundai Heavy submit bids for Daewoo Shipbuilding

(ATTN: UPDATES with final bids; TRIMS; CHANGES headline)
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- A consortium formed by POSCO Co. and GS Group as well two other South Korean business conglomerates submitted their final bids Monday for a controlling stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Co., the state-run Korea Development Bank said.

KDB, which owns a 31 percent stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding and is managing the
sale, will select a priority negotiator for Daewoo Shipbuilding as early as Oct.
25 after reviewing the proposals. The two other conglomerates are Hanwha Group
and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.
Earlier in the day, KDB's chief executive Min Euoo-sung said he wasn't concerned
about the prospects for the sale of Daewoo Shipbuilding.
Prospects for the sale of a 50.4 percent stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding had been
dimming as the shipbuilder's stock price has more than halved since August, when
prospective bidders were invited to send their preliminary bids, as the global
financial crisis and following economic slowdown undermined the company's
shareprice, some analysts say.
"I'm not seriously worried about (that issue), because a price is calculated on
average (stock) prices quoted for at least three months," Min said.
For weeks, officials at KDB have indicated the tender for Daewoo Shipbuilding
would fail if a purchase price is too low.
About three months ago, analysts had expected the controlling stake in Daewoo
Shipbuilding could fetch some US$7 billion, but they expect a price of as low as
$4 billion today.
The transaction, if successful, would be one of the biggest asset sales by South
Korea's state-run financial institutions, which took over many indebted private
companies in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
Foreign investors were banned on security grounds from bidding for Daewoo
Shipbuilding, which makes submarines for the South Korean Navy.