Daewoo Shipbuilding bondholders accept bailout plan

Seoul

SOUTH Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd on Monday won near unanimous approval for a debt-to-equity swap plan in the first two of five bondholder meetings, as the world's largest shipbuilder battles to stay afloat.

The votes were held hours after Daewoo's biggest bondholder, the National Pension Service (NPS), said it had agreed to the proposal. That move made it likely that other bondholders would follow suit, creditor bank officials said, allowing the shipbuilder to meet conditions of a US$2.6 billion bank bailout.