SK Group is pushing for sale of SK Shipping.
According to an industry source on October 2, SK Group has decided to sell 1.5 trillion won worth of new shares issued by SK Shipping to Hahn & Company and is negotiating.
Once the deal is concluded, SK Group will withdraw from the shipping business 36 years after it started the shipping business by establishing YUKONG Shipping in 1982.
SK Shipping has grown into the nation's fourth-largest shipping company. After the global financial crisis in 2008, however, it failed to withstand the effects of the recession and fell into a capital meltdown in 2017. As of the end of this year, SK Shipping's debt ratio reached 2,391%.
Currently, the majority shareholder of SK Shipping has a 57.22 percent stake in SK Corp. and SK Chairman Choi Tae-won has a 23.4 percent stake.
SK Group said it is reviewing the sale and is not yet in a definite stage.
