HMM in talks with BlackRock over potential $879m investment

South Korean ocean carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is in discussions with the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, to bring in an investment ranging from 600 billion to 1 trillion South Korean won (U.S. $527 million to $879 million).    South Korea’s largest ocean carrier, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), is currently in talks with the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, to bring in an investment ranging from 600 billion to 1 trillion South Korean won (U.S. $527 million to $879 million), the Korea Economic Daily reported, citing unidentified investment banking and shipping industry sources.
   An HMM spokesperson told American Shipper that it has “had a talk with BlackRock, but nothing was definite yet.”
   If the deal is successful, BlackRock would become the second largest shareholder in HMM after the state-owned Korea Development Bank, according to the Korea Economic Daily.
   The South Korean government has injected KRW 1.5 trillion into HMM to keep it afloat after Hanjin Shipping, its former largest ocean carrier, applied for court receivership last year.
   For the second quarter of 2017, HMM recorded a loss of KRW 173.7 billion, compared to a profit of KRW 216 billion for the second quarter of 2016, according to a filing on the DART Repository of Korean Corporate Filings.
   However, the carrier posted an operating loss of KRW 128.1 billion for the quarter, which was an improvement from the KRW 254.3 billion operating loss for last year’s second quarter.
   HMM also managed to boost revenues 22 percent year-over-year to KRW 1.24 trillion during the quarter amid higher volumes.