Seoul: Korea's STX Group has grown and diversified more than most shipping companies this decade, thanks in no small part to its repeated offerings to bourses around the globe. Now, faced with a tough financial climate it is readying its latest IPO. STX will create a holding company for its Chinese shipbuilding units to lay the ground for an initial public offering, the Seoul-based conglomerate said yesterday.
The group's board has approved the plan to launch STX Dalian Holdings Co., which will control the group's three units in Dalian, STX Dalian Shipbuilding Co., STX Dalian Heavy Industries Co. and STX Dalian Marine Engineering Co.
"The establishment of the holding company will help simplify the governance structure of the Chinese units and enhance their management efficiency," the group said in an e-mailed press release.
The conglomerate plans an IPO of its Chinese shipbuilding business in Shanghai or Hong Kong around 2011, its chief financial officer said in a recent interview. STX's Dalian yard is reportedly the largest shipyard in the world in terms of area space. Constraints placed by Beijing on foreigners building ships in China hampers STX's output in Dalian.
STX Group is also mulling the appropriate timing for STX Europe's stock market listing. STX bought out Aker Yards two years ago and rebranded the famous yard as STX Europe. [16/12/09]
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