A Seoul court on Tuesday selected private equity fund Hahn & Company as the preferred bidder for Korea Line, which has been under court receivership due to mounting debt.

   South Korea's No. 4 shipper Korea Line was hit hard by the global economic downturn and has been under court receivership since early 2011 as the company has suffered from massive debts worth over 1 trillion won ($942 million).

   Hahn & Company offered a higher bidding price to buy the shipping company, beating Zenith Partners Korea, industry sources said.

   Hahn & Company will conduct due diligence on the shipper and fine-tune the final takeover price with the court, it added.

   Three other bidders including conglomerates CJ and SK Group expressed their intents to buy Korea Line at a preliminary bidding, but gave up due to the company's price tag. (Yonhap)