CSBC privatization bidding goes on to a second round

State-run China Ship-Building Corp (CSBC, 中船) will launch a second round of bidding related to its privatization after too few bidders participated in the first round, a company official said yesterday.

"The bidding process requires a minimum of three bids. Since less than three bids were submitted when it closed on Monday, we will call for a second round within a month," vice president Chang Feng-chou (張豐州) said.

He refused to reveal the names of the bidders, but MPH (US), British Aerospace (BAE), Mitsubishi (Japan), Hyundai (South Korea) as well as Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮), Yangming Marine Transport Corp (陽明) and China Steel Corp (中鋼) have all expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in CSC.

Chang attributed the flop of the first round to short notice and some interested parties' failure to successfully form consortia.

The company wants to sell 51-66 percent of its shares, worth around US$156 million. The company, which has two shipyards, is currently 95 percent owned by the state.

The company ran into the red in the 1990s due to mismanagement and having too many workers. In 2001 it laid off 2,400 staff and began privatization moves.

The company now has 2,700 workers and currently holds orders for 52 ships, enough to keep it busy until the second quarter of 2009.