이 기사는 2021년 06월 18일 06:40 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s cash-strapped Doosan Group is mulling over whether to offload Doosan Engineering & Construction (Doosan E&C) or increase its capital base amid its self-rescue efforts.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, the largest shareholder of Doosan E&C, has contacted financial investors to inject liquidity into the construction company in the form of a capital hike through rights offering, accoding to sources. Doosan Heavy aims to attract new investors in Doosan E&C while retaining management rights.

The sale of Doosan E&C was expected to resume in the first half of this year after Doosan Heavy’s negotiations with Daewoo Development Co. Ltd – Engineering & Construction fell through last year.

However, Doosan Heavy has changed its mind to sell a minority stake in Doosan E&C instead of offloading a controlling stake in the construction company.

In this case, a new investor is highly likely to become the second largest shareholder of Doosan E&C behind Doosan Heavy. A potential financial investor will only secure a majority stake even after it injects a huge amount of money. It is expected to cost around 300 billion won ($265 million) to normalize the builder’s operation.

“Doosan Group's top priority is to provide Doosan E&C with liquidity through a capital increase by issuing new shares,” said an industry source. “It has expressed a desire to maintain its management rights even if Doosan E&C receives funds through rights offering in the form of third party placement.”

Market insiders said the group, which previously seriously considered selling Doosan E&C, has recently changed its decision amid rising hope of the construction company’s turnaround. Doosan E&C's debt ratio fell after the split-off and spin-off processes, and concerns about insolvency have been reduced as it solved an issue with unsold apartments amid signs of recovery in the nation’s construction industry.

Industry watchers widely said it is difficult to predict whether the deal will be struck considering a wide gap between the seller and financial investors. While financial investors seek management rights, which enable them to make various attempts to enhance the enterprise value, the issue is how much demands from investors Doosan Group will accept. (Reporting by Ar-rum Rho)