HDC-Asiana acquisition deal headed for collapse: reports

Despite months of back-and-forth and attempts at breakthroughs, the acquisition talks between HDC Hyundai Development Company and Asiana are likely to fall apart, according to reports Thursday. In an email Wednesday, the building company once again told Korea Development Bank, the airline’s creditor, to undertake a fresh round of due diligence for 12 weeks, local reports revealed. KDB and the airline’s owner Kumho Industrial have been adamant against another round of due diligence. One media outlet said Kumho could announce the deal is dead as soon as sometime this week. HDC said that it cannot confirm the details of the reports. Both KDB and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, another creditor of the airline, declined to comment on the matter. Once the deal is officially terminated, Asiana will be placed under receivership of creditor banks and some 2t won ($1.68b) in the form of key industry stabilization funds would be injected into the airline to keep the troubled business afloat. Since HDC offered to buy Asiana last year, talks had stalled, particularly as the aviation industry tumbled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But optimism had cautiously been raised as Kumho and HDC agreed to meet face-to-face, followed by a meeting between the chairs of KDB and HDC late last month to seek a breakthrough for the troubled deal.<br/>