Four parties have been shortlisted as candidates to buy Kumho Industrial's stakes in Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon) as well as its low-cost subsidiaries Air Busan and Air Seoul, local media reported on September 10, despite Asiana's total debt estimated to be around KRW9 trillion won (USD7.5 billion).
Aekyung Group, Mirae Asset Daewoo together with Hyundai Development Company, Korea Corporate Governance Improvement (KCGI), and the Korea-based venture capitalist Stonebridge Capital will join the bidding, the latter two working with strategic investors. Big-name conglomerates such as SK, Hanwha, and CJ had previously expressed an interest but ultimately opted not to participate.
However, Kumho and the airline's creditors may still be hoping for an eventual conglomerate bid. They are reportedly considering allowing parties that did not participate in the preliminary bid to join the main bid, slated for October, in a bid to raise the sale price.
"Those consortiums led by brokerages or private equity funds will seek to acquire Asiana at the lowest price possible and then sell it to the highest bidder in the future. This isn't what Kumho is looking for," an industry insider told the English-language Korea Times.
However, SK CEO Park Jung-ho said last week: "We are not interested in acquiring Asiana. SK Group is focussing on future technology-related businesses. The airline industry isn't one of them."
