Hanjin Shipping Sells Stake in Affiliate Company

Hanjin Shipping is selling its stake in the Hanjin Group’s holding company, prompting suggestions in South Korea that the container line will separate from the larger business.

The shipping company’s stake in Jungseok Enterprise amounts to only about 2.2 percent, but it is part of the interlocking ownership shares that from the larger conglomerate, which also needs Korean Air.

The sale comes amid growing moves toward consolidation in Hanjin Shipping’s core ocean container operations. Along with the operator’s sale earlier this month of its 14 percent stake in another affiliated business, Hanjin Travel, Hanjin Shipping appears to be carving itself out as a distinct, standalone business.

The Korea Herald newspaper quoted Hanjin Shipping as saying the sale of Jungseok was aimed at allowing the shipping line to meet the regulatory requirements of a holding company and, the paper said, “had nothing to do with its separation from the Hanjin Group.”

Hanjin Group owns a 27.4 percent stake in Hanjin Shipping