South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean saw its shares stumble nearly 10 percent early on Tuesday following news that Korea Development Bank (KDB) would sell part of its stake. Other listed affiliates under the Hanwha Group umbrella also faced downward pressure.

Hanwha Ocean shares were trading at 80,500 won ($56.01) as of 9:10 a.m., down 9.85 percent from the previous session on the Kospi. The steep decline is attributed to concerns about overhanging pressure from the KDB’s block sale and the perception that the stock has reached its peak.

According to industry sources, KDB conducted a demand survey Monday to sell part of its 19.5 percent stake, equivalent to 59,738,211 shares, in Hanwha Ocean via a block deal. The bank plans to offload part of its holdings soon and eventually sell its entire stake in the future.

KDB initially acquired its stake through a debt-for-equity swap in 2000 when the company was known as Daewoo Heavy Industries and retained a portion of the shares even after transferring management control to Hanwha Group via a third-party paid-in capital increase in 2022.

Brokerage iM Securities noted that some interpret KDB’s move as a sign it views Hanwha Ocean’s current stock price as a peak. The brokerage warned that the 19.5 percent overhang would weigh on the stock price for the time being. Although Hanwha Ocean still has growth momentum, given its early-stage earnings recovery and potential order intake for specialty ships from the United States, iM Securities downgraded its rating from “buy” to “hold.”

Meanwhile, LG Household & Health Care shares surged nearly 8 percent on Tuesday following better-than-expected first-quarter 2025 results. LG Household & Health Care shares were trading at 344,000 won as of 9:25 a.m., up 7.84 percent from the previous day.

The stock extended gains throughout the morning after initially rising 2.04 percent at the market open. On Monday, the company reported a consolidated operating profit of 142.4 billion won for the first quarter of 2025, down 5.7 percent from the same period in 2024.

Several brokerage houses raised their target prices for LG Household & Health Care following the earnings announcement.

Hanwha Ocean shares closed at 78,500 won, and LG Household & Health Care shares closed at 341,000 won.

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