Nine shareholders of Doosan Fuel Cell Co. sold their combined 8.13 percent stake in the fuel cell maker via a block deal, the company said Wednesday.

"The stake sale was a part of Doosan Group's self-rescue plan," a company official said by phone.

The shareholders were reported to have raised around 274.5 billion won ($252.7 million) via the block deal.

The shareholders include Park Jeong-won, chairman of cash-squeezed Doosan Group.

After the sale, the combined stake in Doosan Fuel Cell of the nine shareholders and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. was lowered to 38.45 percent, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Last March, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. borrowed cash totaling 3 trillion won from its creditors and state-run banks -- the Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea -- to brace itself for its short-term debts worth 4.2 trillion won.

On Sept. 4, Doosan Group made public its plan to repay the 3 trillion-won debt of Doosan Heavy by selling new shares and assets of the power plant builder and assets of the holding company Doosan Corp.

Under the plan, nine shareholders of Doosan Fuel Cell decided to provide their 23 percent stake in Doosan Fuel Cell for free to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction to help it tide over its cash crisis.

In October, they sold their 10.09 percent stake in the fuel cell maker via a block deal to repay debts secured on the 23 percent stake, before delivering them to Doosan Heavy.

The latest stake sale was also a move to repay the debts secured on the 23 percent stake.

The sale of 5.33 million ordinary shares in Doosan Fuel Cell will be finalized on Friday, the company said in a regulatory filing. (Yonhap)