All secured creditors, 91.47% of unsecured creditors vote in favor

Beomhan Industrial to invest 68 billion won for controlling stake

The STX headquarters building [STX website]
The STX headquarters building [STX website]

STX, the former holding company of the now-defunct STX Group, will be sold to Beomhan Industrial after completing court-led rehabilitation proceedings. The company had sought to survive independently as a general trading firm after the group's breakup, but a liquidity crisis triggered by sanctions risk ultimately forced it to find a new owner.

The Seoul Bankruptcy Court's First Rehabilitation Division, presided over by Chief Judge Jeong Jun-yeong, convened a creditors' meeting Wednesday morning at Courtroom No. 1 and approved STX's rehabilitation plan.

According to the court's tally, all voting secured creditors backed the plan. Among unsecured creditors, holders of about 356.2 billion won in voting rights — out of a total of approximately 389.5 billion won ($288 million) — voted in favor, yielding an approval rate of 91.47%. Shareholders held no voting rights and were not counted separately.

Under the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act, a rehabilitation plan requires approval from creditors holding at least three-quarters of total secured claims and at least two-thirds of total unsecured claims. STX's plan cleared both thresholds.

The core of the rehabilitation plan involves converting a large portion of unsecured claims into equity and having Beomhan Industrial take over the company to repay remaining debts. STX's total liabilities stand at around 450 billion won. The approximately 15.9 billion won in secured claims will be repaid in full. Of the roughly 437.6 billion won in unsecured claims, general unsecured creditors will receive 10.83 percent in cash, with the remaining 89.16 percent converted to equity. Ordinary shares held by existing majority shareholder APC Mercury, along with equity stakes converted from claims held by related parties, will be fully canceled.

Beomhan Industrial plans to invest 68 billion won through a third-party rights offering to secure a 94.29 percent stake. Of that amount, 52.4 billion won will be used to repay secured and unsecured claims in cash.

STX fell into a liquidity crisis last July after the Financial Services Commission's Securities and Futures Commission imposed sanctions on the company. The regulator found that STX had failed to properly reflect foreign litigation filed against subsidiaries in 2022 and 2023 in its financial statements, omitting provisions and contingent liabilities. STX contested the sanctions in court, and a first-instance ruling is scheduled for Oct. 1.

Despite STX's position that the sanctions were unjustified, financial institutions cut their credit lines to the company. A deteriorating business environment compounded by a credit crunch led to overdue loan repayments, and the company ultimately filed for rehabilitation last December. STX pursued a pre-approval merger and acquisition process, with Beomhan Industrial selected as the final acquirer. Anjin Accounting Corp. served as both the court-appointed investigator and the sale manager.

Anjin Accounting Corp. has previously managed the sales of Eastar Jet in 2021, Sambu Construction in 2025 and Dongsung Pharmaceutical in 2025. In those cases, Eastar Jet was sold to Seongjung, Sambu Construction to a consortium led by Pareto Asset Management, and Dongsung Pharmaceutical to a consortium of Uamco and Taekwang Industrial.

STX traces its roots to Ssangyong Heavy Machinery, founded in 1976. The company passed through Ssangyong Heavy Industries before changing its name to STX in 2001, then grew into STX Group through a series of acquisitions including Daedong Shipbuilding and Panyang Merchant Marine. In 2004, it spun off its engine division as STX Engine and converted STX into the group's holding company.

After the global financial crisis, however, a prolonged slump in the shipbuilding and shipping industries combined with the burden of aggressive debt-financed expansion pushed the group into dissolution beginning in 2013. STX went through joint creditor management before being sold to APC Private Equity in 2018. It subsequently restructured around a general trading business dealing in raw materials, steel and nonferrous metals, but finds itself going through a sale process again eight years later.


park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com