이 기사는 2019년 12월 10일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

A consortium of Hyundai Development Company (HDC) and Mirae Asset Daewoo is drawing up a funding plan for the acquisition of South Korea's second-largest carrier Asiana Airlines.

The HDC-Mirae Asset Daewoo consortium is set to sign a share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire Asiana Airlines for 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) as soon as this week, industry sources said on December 4. HDC is currently in talks with several financial firms, with a plan to use acquisition financing as well as its cash holdings.

HDC recently has received proposals on credit facility from banks, with an intention to secure optimal terms for a loan to raise money for the acquisition. Lobbying by several financial institutions, including Shinhan Bank, is underway in a bid to provide acquisition financing to the company. A detailed financing structure is expected to be determined after the SPA is signed.

The HDC-Mirae Asset Daewoo consortium made an offer to buy a 31.05 percent stake currently held by Kumho Industrial, parent of the airline, as well as newly issued shares for about 2.5 trillion won. Among them, two trillion won will reportedly be raised by HDC, while the remaining 500 billion won by Mirae Asset Daewoo. Once signed, the deal is expected to complete in around April of next year.

HDC had its cash and cash equivalent worth roughly 1.5 trillion won ($1.26 billion) as of the end of September. Given this information, industry watchers are expecting HDC to fund about one trillion won by debt financing.

Initially it was wildly expected that HDC would raise the bulk of the shortfall by selling bonds. Its credit rating outlook was recently downgraded from stable to negative, but HDC still has an A+ rating, which could enable the company to issue corporate bonds at a rate as low as two percent.

However, another option to fund a half of the shortfall by issuing bonds and the remaining half through acquisition financing appears to have gained traction of late within HDC. This is to diversify funding sources in anticipation of long-term financing needs for further investment in capital expenditure, said industry insiders.

(By reporter Han Hee-yeon)