Midsized shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said Friday its creditors led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) have picked a consortium as the prime bidder for the shipbuilder.

On Nov. 9, the creditors signed a preliminary deal with the consortium comprising local private equity fund KH Investment (KHI) and United Asset Management Company (UAMCO), South Korea's biggest bad debt clearer, to sell the shipbuilder.

After the deal, the creditors put up the stake in the shipbuilder for an open bid in an effort to sell it at a higher price.

Ernst & Young Han Young, the sale manager for the deal, finalized the open bidding on Monday but failed to seek other buyers.

"Creditors and the main bidder are predicted to strike a formal deal in December and the deal will be finished in the first quarter of next year," a company official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.

The KDB-led creditors wholly own the shipyard after debt-for-equity swaps and a debt rescheduling program.

STX Offshore started its debt rescheduling program in 2013 and was released from the program in July 2017. (Yonhap)