DSME to sell $702m in new shares

The struggling South Korean shipbuilder will sell the new stock at 40.35 won a piece in a bid to strengthen its financial status, Yonhap News Agency reported.    Struggling South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) plans to sell 793 billion won (U.S. $702 million) worth of new stock at 40.35 won a piece, the firm said in a regulatory filing, according to a report from Yonhap News Agency.
   DSME’s new shares will be sold to the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) and others, including Worri Bank, in a bid to strengthen the shipbuilder’s financial status.
   The trading of DSME stocks has been suspended since July 2016, due to its impaired capital base.
   In April, DSME bondholders approved a debt-for-equity swap as a condition of a 2.9 trillion won funding package from the KDB and Export-Import Bank of Korea.
   In return, DSME has pledged to implement self-rescue measures worth 5.3 trillion won through 2018, Yonhap said. The shipbuilder has already sold off non-core assets and decreased its workforce, which has allowed it to raise or save roughly 1.8 trillion won.
   Meanwhile, DSME said it delivered a $2.7 billion fixed offshore platform to multinational oil firm Norwegian Statoil ASA, Yohnap reported Monday.
   The offshore platform will be installed on the North Sea continental shelf, and will be capable of producing 2.5 million barrels of oil per month.
   DSME is currently working to build 10 offshore platforms, three of which are expected to be delivered in October.