More Asian defaults loom in 2017 amid Korea shipyard debt

Seoul

AS if investors in Asia's troubled corporate bond markets don't have enough to worry about, concern is mounting about whether South Korean shipyards will be able to repay record amounts of debt coming due next year.

Yields on bonds of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co and Samsung Heavy Industries Co have shot up this year. The top four South Korean shipbuilders have 2.3 trillion won (S$2.8 billion) in notes maturing next year, the most in Bloomberg-compiled data going back to 1997. Some of them may have trouble paying debts without help from the government or group firms, according to HMC Investment Securities Co and NH Investment & Securities Co.