ONE of the biggest agri-food companies in South Korea Harim Group has thrown its hat into the ring to take over the nation's flagship carrier HMM.

The company is the parent of Pan Ocean, the country's largest dry bulk shipping company that was acquired by Harim in 2015, reports Container News.

Harim and private equity player JKL Partners submitted a joint bid on July 24 to buy the 57.87 per cent stake in HMM held by Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC). The stake is estimated to be priced between US$3.9 billion and $7.8 billion.

KDB and KOBC are both government-backed entities and assumed control of HMM after a debt-for-equity swap in 2016. With HMM having been profitable since 2020, the government has decided the time is right to relieve the company of state support.

The Harim-JKL bid was done in a similar fashion as the Pan Ocean acquisition. In June 2018, after Pan Ocean restored profitability, JKL sold its shares to Harim for a $140 million profit.

Harim's expression of interest follows that of SM Line parent Samra Midas Group.

South Korean media has depicted the bids of Harim and SM Group as a contest between their respective chairmen, Kim Hong-kuk and Woo Oh-hyun. Both men are former business partners who worked together in the poultry business in the 1970s.

In 1978, Woo felt the construction sector was more prosperous, and switched industries, moving on a different track from Kim.

SM Group began buying HMM's shares in 2021 and as of 7 July, has a 6.56 per cent stake, making it HMM's third-largest shareholder, behind KDB and KOBC.