HONG KONG AND SEOUL—Korea Development Bank, set to sell a controlling stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., said the selection of a preferred bidder may be postponed from August because of due-diligence delays.

“There’s a possibility we won’t be able to select a preferred bidder in August,” Korea Development Bank spokesman Sung Joo Yung said Wednesday by telephone in Seoul, where the bank and the shipbuilder are based. Korea Development Bank is also arranger of the sale.

State-controlled Korea Development Bank and Korea Asset Management Corp. are selling 50.4 percent of the world’s third-largest shipbuilder, a stake worth 3.49 trillion won ($3.5 billion), based on Wednesday’s closing price of 36,200 won. The transaction will be the largest in the shipbuilding industry.

Korea Development Bank has yet to conduct due diligence on the Daewoo Shipbuilding sale because union workers have blocked bank officials from entering the company’s offices in the past month. Workers are demanding the stake should be sold in blocks and that they be consulted before a buyer is chosen.

Daewoo Shipbuilding’s management is now in talks with the union to allow Korea Development officials to conduct due diligence, saying a delay in sales could disrupt production.

Shares of Daewoo Shipbuilding gained 0.3 percent to close at 36,200 won in Seoul. The stock has dropped 30 percent this year, compared with a 20- percent decline in South Korea’s Kospi index.

The sale was also delayed after Korea Development Bank decided in May to handle the sale on its own. The state-controlled lender scrapped an April decision to engage Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as co-adviser.

The state-owned bank and Goldman “failed to reach an agreement” on terms of the contract as stake-sale adviser, according to a May 18 statement that didn’t provide more details.

South Korean media, including Edaily, said in May Korea Development Bank decided not to hire Goldman because of a potential conflict of interest related to Goldman’s stake in an unidentified Chinese shipyard.

Posco, Asia’s third-largest steelmaker, Doosan Group, GS Group and Hanwha Group have said they will bid for the stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding. STX Group said on June 18 it is considering a purchase and will make a decision later. (Bloomberg)

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Daewoo Ship’s bid selection to be delayed

HONG KONG AND SEOUL—Korea Development Bank, set to sell a controlling stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., said the selection of a preferred bidder may be postponed from August because of due-diligence delays.