(Bloomberg) -- Hanjin Shipping Co. shares surged by their daily limit of 30 percent in Seoul after a local media report that the sale of the collapsed container mover's U.S.-Asia assets to a unit of South Korea's SM Group is approaching its completion.
The stock capped its biggest gain on record and closed at 481 won in Seoul after Edaily reported the asset sale may be concluded as early as next week, citing an SM Group official. Representatives at the group didn't immediately answer phone calls seeking comment, while a Hanjin spokesman declined to comment.
Hanjin, once the world's seventh-biggest container-shipping company, sought court receivership last year after creditors ended all funding support and the government decided not to intervene. Korea Line Corp., part of the SM Group, signed an agreement in November to buy the assets for 37 billion won ($30.7 million).
About 2.64 million Hanjin Shipping shares changed hands at 2:02 p.m. local time at 431 won apiece, compared with Tuesday's closing price of 370 won, while another lot of 1.82 million shares traded at 2:13 p.m. at 481 won apiece, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Korea Exchange said the stock was placed on surveillance after gaining about 45 percent in the past five days.
--With assistance from Lisa Pham To contact the reporter on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net, Sam Nagarajan
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