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Dalian: Korea’s STX Offshore & Shipbuilding is currently trying to solve its heavy debt crisis by selling shares in its Dalian shipbuilding facility in Northeast China, as first reported by SinoShip News last December. The Dalian government might be the potential buyer of the shares.
A source at STX Dalian told SinoShip News that a team of 36 people sent by the Dalian government has moved into the hotel inside STX Dalian shipyard since early April, and they have been working on the assessment of the shipyard. However, the percentage of shares that STX would eventually sell still remains unknown.
The Dalian government organized a group of banks including Bank of China, Minsheng Bank, Bank of Dalian and Pudong Development Bank to offer a total RMB2.85bn loan to STX Dalian in 2009. Currently the loans are due for repayment one after another; STX has been unable to repay the loans, some of which are overdue. Another source at one of the above banks revealed that now the Dalian government has intervened and asked the banks to extend the repayment period.
The source at STX Dalian also said the financially troubled shipyard hasn’t paid workers for months, and most of the departments in the shipyard have been given more than 10 days holidays since early April, and when they came back to work this week, the shipyard is giving them more holidays because of a “temporary power shutdown”.
STX Dalian commenced operation in 2008 and it is one of the largest shipyards in the world
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