A Russian company is steps away from winning management control over Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, one of Korea’s top three shipbuilders and the leading military ship manufacturer.

A ranking Russian government official confirmed that Korea and Russia are discussing the potential for Russia’s state-run oil company Rosneft to acquire DSME’s stocks.

“We are currently in discussion,” said Natalia Burykina, chairperson of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Market.

Burkykina visited Korea last week to speak in a parliamentary forum on financial affairs regulation.

It was repeatedly reported in Russian media earlier this year that Rosneft, which is also the world’s largest listed oil producer, is set to buy at least 30 percent of DSME’s stocks and take control of the company’s management.

The most plausible scenario for the Russian firm in that case would be to strike a package purchase deal on the 31.5 percent majority share currently held by the financially pressed Korea Development Bank.

In order to sell off 10 percent or more of DSME’s stocks to a non-domestic unit, however, KDB has to obtain governmental approval as the shipbuilder is involved in the nation’s military ship industry.

“It is only natural that Russia should take an interest in Korea’s shipbuilding sector, considering Korea’s geographic location and technical initiative in the business,” said an official of DSME.

But DSME is currently Korea’s leading builder of military ships and its management rights may not be handed over to a foreign company, the official added.

KDB, too, denied the ongoing speculation, claiming that it had received no official offer of that sort from Rosneft or other foreign companies.

It nevertheless remains that the sale of DSME stocks could be a financially appealing deal for the state-run Korean bank, which recorded an accumulated net loss of 199.6 billion won ($188.6 million) as of the third quarter this year.

DSME, on the other hand, is considered to be a relatively stable and valuable asset despite its yearslong ownership vacuum and the prolonged market slump.

In the third quarter, the shipbuilder recorded 3.4 trillion won in sales, 122.6 billion won in operating profit and 92.9 billion won in net profit, all of which were considerably higher than last year’s figures.

It also achieved over 90 percent of its yearly order target amount as of the end of November, with several incoming orders to be signed within the remaining month, officials said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)