SEOUL, KOREA - It is revealed the stake of STX Energy that its parent company STX Group was going to sell off to Han & Co., a homegrown private equity fund, was held as a collateral. In order to sell shares provided as collateral, the seller must get a permission from the collateral holder. As it turns out, STX Group's plan to get out of the financial difficulty by selling off STX Energy shares is in danger of being disrupted.

 

According to banking sources on May 10, STX Corp., the group's holding company, had offered 2.2 million shares (18.6%) of STX Energy as collateral in exchange for a 970-billion-won loan to STX Offshore & Shipbuilding from Korea EximBank late last year. It also pledged 1.3 million STX Energy shares (11.0%) as collateral to Korea Securities Finance Corp. In February this year, the company gave 245,000 shares (2.1%) to Industrial Bank of Korea in relation to a 14.8-billion-won loan for its affiliate ForceTec. In all, the shares of STX Energy given away as collateral are 31.7 percent.

 

STX Group had planned to scrape up 300 to 400 billion won by selling stakes of STX Energy. But the cash it can get from selling the remaining shares except the ones with collateral would be much less than that level. As to the issue, Han & Co. commented, "This is the problem STX Group should deal with."