DSME Selling USD 1.14 Bn Convertible Bonds

DSME Cash-strapped South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) has decided to proceed with the issue of convertible bonds into stocks within its economic bailout plan. Under the plan agreed in March with its creditors, the company will sell KRW 1.3 trillion (USD 1.14 billion) to the Export Import Bank of Korea, DSME said in a stock exchange filing. The plan, which includes KRW 2.9 trillion (USD 2.6 billion) of fresh funds, will see half of the shipyard’s commercial papers converted into equity with the rest being rolled over. The move follows the sale of KRW 793 billion worth of stocks to DSMEs creditors led by the state-run Korea Development Bank carried out earlier this month. To remind, KDB said that it would convert KRW 1.8 trillion of debt into equity, after it earlier converted around KRW 400 billion worth of loans into DSME stocks. World Maritime News Staff