This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:55 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2025.
According to confirmation, Korea Asset Management Corporation (UAMCO) recovered an amount totaling 240 billion won this year from STX Engine and K Ship (formerly STX Offshore & Shipbuilding). The boom in the shipbuilding industry and various positive factors, including the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation package MASGA project, combined to drive corporate values sharply higher.
According to the investment banking industry, UAMCO sold a total of 6 million shares of STX Engine for about 171.4 billion won from February to September this year. As a result, UAMCO's stake in STX Engine fell from 75.38% to 61.68%. UAMCO recovered about 66.6 billion won from K Ship in the first half of this year alone.
UAMCO acquired an 84% stake in STX Engine in June 2018 by investing 185.2 billion won. In December of the same year, it additionally purchased 94.4 billion won worth of STX Engine convertibles (CBs), bringing total investment to 280 billion won. The purchase price per share was 7,553 won. This means it recovered more than half of its original STX Engine investment this year alone.
Initially, UAMCO intended to sell all of its management-control equity in STX Engine but changed direction. The size of the holdings grew because the value of the stake UAMCO holds reached about 900 billion won even excluding a control premium. At the end of last year, STX Engine's market capitalization was in the mid-700 billion won range, and based on the closing price that day it hit 1.5 trillion won.
UAMCO is also pushing ahead with the sale of domestic shipbuilder K Ship. However, voices say the deal will be hard to complete because of conditions such as ship financing borrowings and additional working capital injections. Considering the financial liabilities the buyer would have to shoulder on a sale price of 500 billion won discussed in the market, the transaction amount would rise to the trillion-won level.
Because the amount recovered from K Ship this year exceeded the equity investment, the sale negotiations are expected to proceed relatively comfortably. The stake for sale is 99.58% held by the UAMCO-KHI consortium. When they acquired it in 2021, UAMCO and KHI each contributed 200 billion won and 50 billion won, respectively, for the joint investment. Of that, UAMCO's 200 billion won was invested in common stock (50 billion won), corporate bonds (100 billion won) and convertibles (50 billion won).
An industry source said, "UAMCO will look for opportunities by gradually reducing its stake in STX Engine as it is doing now," and noted, "K Ship is also in a comfortable position since it has succeeded in returning to profit."