South Korea

Bitcoin resumed its slide yesterday, dipping below $14,000 as the cryptocurrency’s dizzying drop from a record set 10 days ago intensified, Bloomberg News reported. The latest blow to the world’s biggest cryptocurrency came from South Korea, where the government said it was eyeing options for stamping out a frenzy of speculation, including a potential shutdown of at least some exchanges. Bitcoin fell as much as 11 percent to as low as $13,500 as of 2:02 p.m. in New York, erasing modest gains after the South Korean release, composite Bloomberg pricing shows.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world’s second-biggest shipbuilder, fell by a record following its plan to raise about 1.29 trillion won ($1.2 billion) selling new shares for working capital, Bloomberg News reported. Hyundai Heavy intends to sell 12.5 million new shares before the end of March at an estimated price of 103,000 won each, a discount of about 24 percent to the closing level on Tuesday. The stock fell 28 percent, the most since the company was listed on South Korea’s main board in August 1999, to 97,300 won today.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co.’s labor union said on Tuesday its members have rejected the tentative wage deal its leadership had agreed with management last week, Reuters reported. The union in a statement said 50.2 percent of 45,008 voters rejected the deal as they deemed wage levels were inadequate compared with previous years’ agreements, whereas 48.2 percent accepted the terms. The remaining votes were invalid. The union said it will do its best to reach a new tentative wage deal within the year.

Samsung Heavy Industries sheds more than a quarter of its value on Wednesday after announcing plans to raise Won1.5tn ($1.4bn) in a sale of new shares and flagging operating losses for this year and next, the Financial Times reported.

Shares in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shed close to two thirds of their value on Monday as the world’s second-largest shipbuilder traded for the first time in 15 months, the Financial Times reported. The stock dropped as much as 64.9 per cent from its closing level of Won44,800 on July 14, 2016, before pulling back slightly to be down 57.5 per cent at Won19,050.

A consortium of creditors led by state-owned Korea Development Bank agreed on Friday to keep debt-laden Kumho Tire afloat after a Won955bn ($835m) sale to China’s Doublestar fell through this month. The deal shows the extent to which the government will bow to political pressure to keep insolvent groups running, and South Korean resistance to the sale of domestic groups to the Chinese, the Financial Times reported. This is the first case of major corporate restructuring under South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-in, who has made reinvigorating the slow economy his top priority.

South Korea’s troubled shipbuilding industry is showing signs of recovery, with the country’s three biggest shipyards surpassing rivals in China and Japan in terms of new orders, the Financial Times reported.s Daewoo Shipbuilding had the biggest order backlog among global shipbuilders with 88 ships representing 6.26m CGTs (compensated gross tonnes) as of the end of May. Hyundai Heavy Industries’ 65 vessels totalling 3.33m CGTs was next, followed by Samsung Heavy Industries’ 60 ships totaling 3.2m CGTs, according to industry tracker Clarkson Research.

South Korea’s debt-ridden Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s second biggest shipyard, was thrown a lifeline after creditors agreed to a massive debt-to-equity swap as part of a bailout plan, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s largest shipbuilder, won a reprieve from major bondholder National Pension Service and other lenders, helping avert a payment crisis that had threatened to almost shut the company, Bloomberg News reported. The NPS agreed to restructure 1.55 trillion won ($1.4 billion) of bonds issued by the company after the shipbuilder, the Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea took steps to ensure repayment of the debts, the pension service said in a statement April 16.

South Korea’s National Pension Service has a decision to make -- help the world’s biggest shipmaker survive, or let it die. Creditors to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. are due to meet next week to decide whether to convert some of the 1.55 trillion won ($1.4 billion) of bonds into equity to help the unprofitable company, Bloomberg News reported. Tipping the scale will be the decision of NPS, the biggest holder of debt that matures this month.