Korea's Hanwha aims to buy 9.9% of Australian shipbuilder Austal, term sheet shows (updated)

Austal

17/03/2025 07:57

Adds details from the fourth paragraph

By Scott Murdoch

SYDNEY, March 17 (Reuters) - Korea's Hanwha aims to buy up to 9.9% of Australian shipbuilder Austal ASB.AX in an after-market offer following its failed A$1.02 billion ($646.17 million) takeover bid last year, a term sheet showed on Monday.

Hanwha has offered A$4.45 each for 41.2 million Austal shares, showed the term sheet reviewed by Reuters.

The deal's bookrunners, in a message seen by Reuters, told investors the books had been covered for the transaction.

The Korean company does not intend to make a takeover bid for Austal "at this time", the term sheet showed.

Hanwha and Austal did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The offer price represents a 16.2% premium to Austal's closing share price on Monday of A$3.83.

Hanwha did not hold any direct ownership of Austal before the after-market offer, the term sheet showed, though it does hold a 9.9% interest through a cash-settled total return swap.

The Korean company intends to apply for Australian foreign regulatory approval to take its shareholding to 19.9%, the term sheet showed.

Hanwha Group is South Korea's seventh-largest conglomerate with 112 trillion won ($77.33 billion) in assets spanning the energy, defence and financial industries.

($1 = 1.5785 Australian dollars)

($1 = 1,448.3900 won)

 (Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Additional reporting Heekyong Yang and John Biju; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)

 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))