Posted on 13 Feb 2015
South Korean steelmaker POSCO
has signed a preliminary deal with Saudi Arabia's
Public Investment Fund (PIF) to sell part of its construction
unit for about 1.5 trillion won ($1.36 billion), Korea Economic
Daily reported. POSCO on Thursday signed the deal to sell a 38 percent stake
plus new shares of POSCO Engineering & Construction to PIF, the
newspaper said, citing investment banking sources. POSCO owns
almost 90 percent of POSCO E&C. The deal is due to be finalised next month, the report
added. POSCO planned to use some of the proceeds to build a joint
construction firm with PIF, to help tap into the gas and oil
plant market in Saudi Arabia. Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan were
managing the deal. A POSCO spokesman declined to comment on the report, saying
only that no final decision had been made about the sale. POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon said last week that the
steelmaker would be able to sell a stake in POSCO E&C soon, as
part of its efforts to unload assets and cope with the steel
market downturn.
