ULSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s mega project to establish a ship repair and shipbuilding joint venture in Saudi Arabia has gathered pace by signing a shareholder agreement with key business partners, including Saudi Aramco, industry sources said Thursday.

Hyundai Heavy, a major South Korean shipyard based in Ulsan, and Saudi Arabia's state-run oil firm Aramco have been seeking to build a joint shipbuilding and maintenance yard and a maritime engine facility in Saudi Arabia.

In November of last year, the South Korean shipyard signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Aramco for the project.

According to the sources, Saudi Aramco, Hyundai Heavy and two other business partners signed a deal to build a shipyard on the Middle Eastern country's east coast.

The project, worth US$5.3 billion, is forecast to begin in 2019.

Details of the deal were not disclosed.

If the project goes smoothly, Hyundai Heavy will be well-positioned to win shipbuilding deals from Saudi Arabia.

Hit by mounting losses and falling demand for new ships, Hyundai Heavy has mapped out 3.5 trillion won worth of self-rehabilitation measures, including asset sales and a cut in the workforce, in order to stay afloat.

sam@yna.co.kr

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